Friday 3 May 2013

FIA prosecutor in BB, Mumbai bombing cases killed



ISLAMABAD: Chaudhry Zulfiqar, the main prosecutor for the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in the Benazir Bhutto murder case and the 2008 Mumbai blasts case, was shot dead by unidentified men at 7:05 am on Friday morning when he was going to the anti terrorism court in Rawalpindi for a hearing of the Benazir murder case. A woman also died after being hit by the lawyer Zulfiqar's car. The caretaker Interior minister has formed a joint investigation team to probe the incident.
The attackers were riding motorbikes and opened fire at Chaudhry Zulfiqar in sector G-9. He was hit by a hail of bullets but one in his head proved fatal. A police official said Zulfiqar was driving his white Toyota Corolla while his security guard sitting in the vehicle was hit by one bullet. He said the murderers opened fire from both sides of the vehicle, which broke all the glass. Muhammad Aslam Kalyar, the police officer investigating the case, was not sure of the number of attackers but while some eyewitnesses claim there were four attackers on two motorbikes, others say there were six. The woman who died when she was hit by Zulfiqar's car when he lost control after being shot, was named Rubina, who was crossing the road after dropping her son to his school van.
Caretaker Interior Minister Malik Habib formed a joint investigation team headed by DIG Tahir Alam Khan to investigate the incident while the other members of JIT are SP Saddar Jamil Hashmi, SP Investigation Capt (retd) Mustansar Feroz, and two officials from FIA and IB. Inspector General of Islamabad Police, Bani Amin Khan said the police had taken Chaudhry Zulfiqar's mobile phone to help in the investigation. He said a letter had been found at the crime scene near the vehicle of the deceased, which contained threatening messages to the lawyer by a banned outfit. The special anti terrorism court has postponed the hearing of Benazir’s murder case till the 14th of May, while the lawyers of Rawalpindi and IHCBA have announced a strike because of the incident.
AGENCIES ADD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday, strongly condemned the murder and ordered a thorough investigation. In a condolence message to the lawyer's family, the president expressed sorrow. The FIA's special prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar said on Friday that he too was being threatened from Afghan phone numbers. Talking to media, he said Chaudhry Zulfiqar was public prosecutor of the government in Mumbai attack case. He said he had informed intelligence agencies about the threats from telephone numbers from Afghanistan but the caretaker government did nothing about it. All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) Secretary General Dr Amjad has condemned Zulfiqar's murder by armed attackers and sought "immediate investigation into the incident which may affect Pervez Musharraf’s trial in the Benazir case.” 

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