Special Prosecutor in Bhutto’s Murder Case Shot Dead

According to Pakistan police, Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali, the prosecutor in Bhutto’s case, has been shot dead by unknown gunmen in the Pakistani capital on Friday.

The main government prosecutor on Benazir Bhutto murder case, Chauldry Zulfiqar Ali was driving to the anti-terrorism court for the next hearing in the murder case of the ex-prime minister on Friday morning, when he was ambushed by gunmen on motorcycles.

They shot at his vehicle multiple times, killing his bodyguard, a female pedestrian on the street, and fatally wounding Ali in the process.

He was rushed to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries, according to Police officer Mohammad Yousuf.

Zulfiqar was a top prosecutor of the Federal Investigation Authority in several cases. For a professional at his level, he was bound to amass enemies. He should have been given maximum security.

Only a few days ago, former President Pervez Musharraf was charged with conspiracy to murder the former prime minister, and placed under a house arrest which would see him remain indoors during the upcoming elections in May.

After her death, accusing fingers were pointed at the Taliban by the Pakistani authorities, but the former president and several others were blamed for failing to provide adequate security for Bhutto after her return from exile.

Musharraf’s Future Political Dreams Crushed by Court

The troubles of Retired General Pervez Musharraf has grown worse as the Peshawar High Court of Pakistan has issued a lifetime ban on the former president from contesting in any election in the country on Tuesday.

In reading out the order, Court Chief Dost Mohammad Khan said, “the former dictator [Musharraf] had ordered senior judges and their families be put under house arrest and twice abrogated the country’s constitution.”

The lifetime ban was imposed after Musharraf’s lawyer appealed to allow him to run in the upcoming election. Another lawyer of Musharraf’s, Saad Shibli, told reporters that he would go to the Supreme Court to challenge the ruling against his client, claiming that his client does not deserve to be punished alone since there were others involved  while Musharraf was in power.

Shibli said, “About 500 officials at different levels and institutions were part of Musharraf’s actions, and if those actions come under scrutiny, all those people should be involved in the matter.”

The Anti-Terrorism Court in Rawalpindi added to his confinement on Tuesday, by putting him on house arrest until May 14 while prosecutors prepare to try him for conspiracy to murder former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.  That implies Musharraf will remain indoors on Election Day.

Bhutto’s Murder Case: Musharraf Formally Accused of Conspiracy to Commit Murder

General Pervez Musharraf, who is under house arrest at his Chak Shahzad farmhouse residence, has been formally charged with conspiracy to murder Benazir Bhutto, who was brutally murdered in December 2007. He will be taken to the anti-terrorist court on Friday.

It has been a month of humiliation for the former ruler who was disqualified from contesting in the upcoming May 11 elections and arrested after returning from a self-imposed exile that lasted for four years.

While Musharraf was president, Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister of Pakistan, was assassinated in a gun-and-suicide attack just outside Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh on December, 2007. She was addressing a rally of supporters during her election camoaign before she was killed.

Despite a long running case, no one has been convicted for her assassination. Musharraf pointed an accusing finger at Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud as the one responsible (Mehsud denied the accusation vehemently, but was killed in a US drone assault in 2009).

Bhutto’s death could have been prevented if Musharraf’s government had given her adequate security. In February 2011, the ATC (Anti-Terrorism Court) indicted Musharraf, declared a proclaimed offender 6 months later, and had his property attached to the case due in his absence.