Daily Times Editorial May 5, 2013

A troubling development The murder of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) prosecutor investigating the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto raises many troubling questions. He was gunned down while driving to the anti-terrorism court hearing the Benazir Bhutto case. It may be recalled that this is the case in which former president and chief of army staff (COAS) Pervez Musharraf has been arraigned and sent on a 14-day judicial remand just days ago. Reports say the prosecutor, Chaudhry Zulfikar Ali, was set to oppose the expected bail application by Musharraf in the case on Friday. The timing of the assassination therefore raises many questions and suspicions. His co-prosecutor Azhar Chaudhry has said he and Zulfikar had received threatening anonymous calls for some time warning them to stop pursuing the Benazir assassination case or face the consequences. Two witnesses in the same case, Inspector Ilyas and the Civil Lines Police Station SHO Ijaz Shah, had also received warnings not to appear as witnesses. Azhar also revealed that the intelligence agencies had traced the threatening calls to different areas of neighbouring Afghanistan (although this is not necessarily conclusive proof of their origin). He went on to lament that both he and Zulfikar had repeatedly requested the government for extra security in the light of the threat, but unfortunately only received one Frontier Corps (FC) guard each. It was Chaudhry Zulfikar’s FC guard riding with him in his car in the back seat while Zulfikar was driving who returned fire and injured one of the attackers but they got away after doing the dastardly deed. This would be considered one more failure of the caretaker government on the security front, with the proviso that the perpetrators may not be the same elements that have made it their daily business to attack and kill politicians and political workers of the three parties under attack, the PPP, MQM and ANP. Logically, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the usual suspect these days in such incidents, has nothing to gain from carrying out this kind of attack on the most vigorous prosecutor of the cases against Musharraf, whom they hate from the bottom of their hearts. They are probably quite pleased by the manner in which the former COAS is being dragged over the coals in the courts. Why should they therefore kill the prosecutor responsible for Musharraf’s current discomfiture? Give the sensitivity of the cases he was investigating and prosecuting over the last at least four years, Chaudhry Zulfikar's murder smacks of something quite sinister. In the manner of whodunit mysteries, the questions to be asked are the usual: what was the possible motive and who were the beneficiaries? Reports have been circulating since some time after Musharraf’s troubles mounted that the military is very unhappy to see the ‘humiliation’ of a former COAS. Now it needs to be thoroughly investigated who is responsible, without eliminating any possibility. If the finger of circumstantial speculation points in the direction of a powerful institution or its intelligence arms, this would be a very ominous development indeed, and that too on the eve of the elections only a week away. It is interesting to introspect about the message being delivered through the assassination of the prosecutor. Are the perpetrators trying to demonstrate the fate of anyone involved in investigating or prosecuting the cases against Musharraf? The deep state has much to answer for from the past and arguably the present. Skulduggery has not been beyond it. This line of thought is troubling and ominous. We can only hope that the fresh approach in evidence for some time that the military and the deep state are no longer pursuing their usual path of dealing with awkward problems is not just a will o’ the wisp. Times have changed, and if the prosecutor’s murder is traced to what he was engaged in currently, it would represent a body blow against the halting progress towards becoming a more open and civilised state and society. The only safe position to take is to hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst.