PAKISTAN’S main state prosecutor in the 2007 murder of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and the 2008 Mumbai attacks was shot dead in Islamabad en route to court on Friday (May 3), police said.
Chaudhry Zulfiqar was shot multiple times after gunmen intercepted his vehicle shortly after he left home in a busy, middle-class neighbourhood of the capital. His bodyguard was also wounded and a woman passer-by killed.
The assassination comes just days before Pakistan holds historic general elections on May 11, marking the first time that a civilian government completes a full-term in office and hands over to another at the ballot box.
“Chaudhry Zulfiqar was driving his car. He lost control and the car crushed a woman passer-by,” police officer Mohammad Yousuf told reporters.
“Zulfiqar was rushed to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries,” he added.
Police said the gunmen fled on a motorbike.
Zulfiqar’s white Toyota Corolla was badly damaged in the attack.
Its wind shield was smashed and there were multiple bullet marks on both sides of the car and at the front. Pieces of broken window lay inside and on the road. There was blood on the car seats and on the road, a reporter said.
Police said it appeared the attackers targeted his car soon after Zulfiqar took a U-turn after leaving his street.
He lost control and the car skidded into a depression along the main road after hitting the woman, who died instantly, officers said.
Zulfiqar had been on his way to the anti-terrorism court hearing the Bhutto case in the neighbouring city of Rawalpindi.
Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf was this week placed under two-week house arrest over charges that he conspired to murder Bhutto.
Zulfiqar was also the main government prosecutor who indicted seven alleged conspirators in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which killed 166 people and which were blamed on Pakistan’s Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Pakistanindicted the seven in 2009 but has since said it needs to gather more evidence in India before proceeding further.
Zulfiqar was given extra government security last year after he was implicated in threats received by police investigators.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the shooting.
“I cannot comment. I’m in a state of shock,” Zulfiqar’s deputy Azhar Chaudhry told reporters when asked to comment.
Wasim Khawaja, spokesman for Islamabad’s main government-run PIMS hospital, told reporters that Zulfiqar’s bodyguard was out of danger.
