Interpol notice against Benazir

Islamabad: Acting on a request from Pakistan government for their arrest, Interpol has issued 'red notices' against self-exiled former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari notifying member countries that the two face trials at home on corruption charges.

"Following a request from the Pakistani authorities, the Interpol General Secretariat has issued Red Notices for Benazir Bhutto and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari," said the Interpol statement, released to the media here by the Pakistan

government.

"A Red Corner Notice is notification that a bonafide arrest warrant exists for an individual suspected of committing a

crime, or convicted by a court, in any of Interpol's 184 member countries," it said.

According to government officials here, a red notice did not mean an arrest warrant. It meant to inform the countries around the world that court cases existed against them.

Information Minister Sheikh Rashid said that this meant that the member countries could seize their passports and inform about their stay in their country to Pakistan which in turn would decide the next course of action.

Though Red Notices have been issued to all the 184 member countries of the Interpol, Pakistan specially wanted them to be issued to six countries which Bhutto frequently visited, Rashid said.

The countries included the US, where the Bhutto is currently staying along with her husband, the UK, Spain and the UAE, where she resided ever since she went on self-exile since 1999.

On her part, Benazir dismissed the notice, saying: "There is not a single conviction for corruption against me. The only conviction is for absenting myself. Assembly was wrong."

She said she is ready to face the charges against her before any court.

"As far as I'm concerned, if any court wants me in Pakistan, I'm prepared to catch the next plane and go to Pakistan," she said addressing a press conference, organised by the Voice of America in Washington.

"So it is not an issue of my evading presence in a court. But no court in Pakistan to my knowledge has asked me to present. And I believe that Interpol has not been given the correct facts by the military regime in Pakistan," the former Pakistan prime minister said.