ISLAMABAD, May 13: Following the murder of his colleague Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali, a special prosecutor of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) seems reluctant to continue with the Benazir Bhutto murder case unless the government provides him a ‘box security’.

Azhar Chaudhry, the special prosecutor, who is supposed to file a challan against former military ruler General (retired) Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday (today) in the Benazir murder case, has demanded such a security in which the security personnel would surround him during his movement to and from the court.

“I have written to the caretaker interior minister, secretary interior, director general FIA, anti-terrorism court and the inspector general of Punjab police for the provision of security. But none except the IGP Punjab contacted me about the matter,” he said.

He added: “I am still waiting and will not appear in the ATC unless a ‘box security’ is provided to me during my movement.”

He claimed that terrorists were continuously threatening him after he engaged himself with the high-profile murder and Mumbai attacks cases.

According to him, the witnesses and other lawyers associated with the cases were also under threat.

He said inadequate security arrangements would weaken the prosecution case.

It may be mentioned that since April when Gen Musharraf surrendered before the IHC in the judges’ detention case and the LHC in the Benazir murder case, lawyers in the twin cities have been under attack by unknown persons.

During the last one month, in addition to the murder of the FIA special prosecutor, senior lawyers Mujeebur Rehman Kiyani, Basharatullah Khan and Sardar Manzar Bashir were severely beaten up by unknown men.

Interestingly, all the three lawyers are known to be anti-Musharraf. Mr Kiyani is a senior member of the Punjab Bar Council, Basharatullah was the defence counsel in a number of terrorism cases, including the Musharraf attack case.

Sardar Manzar was among those lawyers who had filed a complaint against leaders of All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) after having a scuffle with them outside the ATC Rawalpindi on April 23.

The lawyers’ bodies in the twin cities on Monday observed a partial strike against the abduction and torture of advocate Manzar and condemned the incident.

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