Ex-militant sues Bhutto publishers

ISLAMABAD: A lawyer for an alleged Al Qaeda-linked militant yesterday said he had asked a court to halt the sale of a book by slain ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto that he claims defames his client. Bhutto's allegations in Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West that Qari Saifullah Akhtar was involved in an October bombing in Karachi that killed some 150 people are "baseless," attorney Hashmat Habib said. Habib said he was also seeking more than $200 million (BD75.6m) in damages from the British publishers of Bhutto's book, Simon & Schuster, printers, sellers, and her widowed husband Asif Ali Zardari as her heir and "beneficiary." Habib said an additional session court in Islamabad had issued notices to the defendants to appear on September 5. Bhutto's book was published in mid-February, and Akhtar was arrested later... [read full story]