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Arrest warrant against Benazir

An arrest warrant was issued Friday against Pakistan's former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on a charge that she misused power.

The warrant orders Bhutto to appear in court before April 24. She could apply for bail then, said Sindh high court Justice Ghaus Mohammed.

The court charged that Bhutto abused her power as the prime minister when she appointed 1,300 new employees to the near-bankrupt, state-owned Pakistan International Airline.

Bhutto was sacked in November 1996 on charges of rampant corruption, abuse of power and sanctioning police hit-squads in southern Karachi.

She has denied the accusations.

''Since when is it a crime to create jobs?'' asked her press spokesman Ijaz Ahmed.

Bhutto's husband, Asif Ali Zardari, has been in jail since his wife's government was dismissed. He is charged with the murder of Bhutto's estranged brother, Murtaza, in September 1996.

Zardari has denied the charge.

Bhutto faces three other cases of corruption, charged by the Lahore high court in the eastern Punjab province.

UNI

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