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Prosecutor Working Against Former Pakistani President Musharraf Assassinated
By KTM Metro Reporter
May 3, 2013: the Chinese news agency Xinhua reported from Islamabad today that unidentified gunmen shot dead in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad today morning a senior prosecutor engaged in the assassination case of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and the attacks in the Indian commercial center of Mumbai, police said.
Chaudhry Zulfikar was heading to the anti-terrorism court in the garrison city of Rawalpindi when he came under attack, police officers said.
Slain Zulfikar was the prosecutor of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the country's superior agency investigating the 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto and the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which had killed 164 people and injured nearly 300 others.
India had blamed the Pakistan-based Kashmiri militant group " Lashkar-e-Taiba" for the attacks. Pakistan has arrested a senior leader of the group and several other suspects being tried in an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi.
The attackers riding a motorcycle fled the scene after the firing at 7: 30 a.m., police said. No group has claimed responsibility and police said they are investigating motives behind the attack.
Doctors at Islamabad's Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences said that Zulfikar had received 13 bullets and pronounced him dead as he was brought to the hospital. Sources said that he had died at the scene.
The local media quoted Nisar of son of Zulfikar as saying: his father had received threats from a banned extremist group. He did not mention the name of the group. Officials also admitted that they were also aware of threats and had advised him to be vigilant.
Prosecutor Zulfikar was to going to Rawalpindi to appear before the court in the Benazir Bhutto murder case when he came under attack. Zulfikar's guard was also injured in the attack near G-9 Markaz, a famous marketplace and also known as Karachi Company.
TV footage showed the white color official car of slain prosecutor, which hit the wall along the road after the attackers sprayed bullets at the car; obviously he losing the control of the car. The car also hit a woman, killing her at the spot.
The prosecutor was assassinated at a time when officials have claimed progress in the cases of Benazir Bhutto murder and the Mumbai attacks.
On Tuesday, April 30, 2013, Pakistani investigators have said that they have "solid evidences" against former President Pervez Musharraf in connection with the killing of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto as a court ordered Musharraf to remain in judicial lock-up for two more weeks, local media reported.
Musharraf was not produced before the Anti-Terrorism Court on Tuesday over security concerns and the judge passed the order in his absence.
Musharraf had ruled Pakistan from 1999 to 2008. He returned from self-exile last month. He has been accused of failing to provide adequate security to Benazir Bhutto when she returned to Pakistan from exile in 2007.
The former president has denied all charges and said that he was not directly responsible for the Benazir's security and it was the responsibility of the local authorities.
The court on April 26, 2013 had remanded him for fours days to the Federal Investigation Agency, which is investigating the killing of Benazir Bhutto in a suicide bomb attack and firing in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
Investigators told the court that they have completed questioning of the former president and do not seek more time. So the court sent him on judicial remand until May 14, a spokesman for Musharraf said. Musharraf will remain in prison on the day when Pakistanis will go to poll on May 11.
Chaudhry Zulfikar, a prosecutor, said that Musharraf has tried to shift his liability and responsibility on others in the case. "There are solid evidences about Pervez Musharraf, which prove him guilty in the case," Zulfikar told reporters outside the court 's premises. He said a joint investigation team has included all the evidence in the documents, "which directly connect the accused' with the incident.
He said that former Interior Minister Rehman Malik has also been asked to record his statement in the case as he had been in charge of Benazir Bhutto's security when she was attacked shortly after she spoke to her supporters.
The prosecutor also said that an American journalist Mark Siegel, who had claimed threats to Benazir Bhutto, would also record his statement during the proceedings.
Siegel served as lobbyist for Bhutto in the United States. He had said earlier that he was with her in London when then President Pervez Musharraf called and threatened her. Musharraf had denied the allegations.
"Mark Siegel is a key witness in the case and he will be produced in the court during the proceedings to record his statement," Zulfikar said. The then government of Musharraf had blamed Pakistani Taliban for the attack, but the militants denied the charges. Five suspects are currently facing trial for Bhutto's assassination, who had denied any involvement.
An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan on Thursday, April 25, 2013 allowed the investigators to question former President Pervez Musharraf in the 2007 assassination case of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, prosecutors said. The order was issued a day after a high court refused to extend Musharraf's interim bail in the case.
Musharraf had got an interim bail and had approached the court for extension; however, the Lahore High Court rejected his application at the request from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), which is investigating the case.
The anti-terrorism court on Thursday, April 25, 2013 formally issued an arrest order for Musharraf and allowed the FIA to interrogate him about his role in the case of the Bhutto's assassination in Rawalpindi in December 2007.
FIA prosecutors said that the investigators have "solid evidence about Mushararf's aid and abetment in the incident." Musharraf has dismissed all charges as politically motivated and said he will defend himself in courts.
The FIA lawyers have earlier argued that Musharraf has not yet been formally included in the case and that they want to question him as his government had failed to provide proper security to Benazir Bhutto.
Judge Chaudhry Habib-ur-Rehman then directed to include Musharraf in the case and asked the FIA to complete the investigation and submit a report in the apex court. The hearing was adjourned until May 3.
The court had previously declared Musharraf an "absconder" and issued an arrest warrant for him after he failed to cooperate with investigators when he had been living in self-exile. He returned last month and also got interim bail in the case.
Musharraf has already been arrested in the case of keeping the judges in illegal confinement when he had imposed emergency rule in 2007. The former president is also facing high treason charges for abrogation of the constitution when he had imposed emergence rule in 2007. (news source: Xinhua)
