ISLAMABAD: How the state has ignored the families of victims of terrorism is apparent from the predicament of a senior government servant’s heirs who have been left to fend for themselves without any means of income.

The Federal Investigation Agency’s special public prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfikar Ahmad was gunned down in May last year in broad daylight in Islamabad. The attackers pumped 12 bullets into the body of Chaudhry Zulfikar, who was investigating the Benazir Bhutto assassination case.

After waiting in vain for over 10 months for government support, his younger son has petitioned the Supreme Court with a plea for a job for one of the family’s members from the quota reserved for martyrs’ kin so that they may make both ends meet.

“We have not received a penny from the government since my father, who was conferred with the highest police gallantry award of Quaid-i-Azam Police Medal, sacrificed his life while performing an official assignment,” Chaudhry Nisar Ali said while talking to Dawn.

“We even wrote a letter to the prime minister on Jan 13, inviting his attention to our plight, but to no avail.”

He wondered what message the government was sending to its officers, especially those who were risking their lives and confronting law breakers only for the cause of the country.

The civil miscellaneous application filed by Chaudhry Nisar on Saturday highlighted how his family had been struggling since the death of his father without any source of income. It requested the court to order the interior ministry to appoint Muhammad Qamar Abbas, the elder son of Chaudhry Zulfikar, as an assistant sub inspector or sub inspector against the ‘Shaheed quota’.

A Jan 31 recommendation letter of former FIA director general Saud Ahmed to the interior secretary has been attached to the application. “In recognition of his sterling services to the nation and his supreme sacrifice to protect his countrymen, it is strongly recommended that his son Muhammad Qamar Abbas may kindly be appointed as ASI in the FIA in accordance with the prime minister’s scheme to provide relief to the families of Shaheed government servants,” the former DG suggested.

The scheme envisages appointment of members of families of slain government servants in the same department in accordance with their educational qualifications.

Chaudhry Zulfikar joined the FIA as inspector in 1990 and served the agency for more than 20 years. He was reappointed as senior special prosecutor after his retirement, in appreciation of his vast experience in investigation and prosecution of high-profile cases.

He took the challenging tasks of prosecuting terrorism cases with extreme bravery despite a rising level of threats. The cases handled by him included the Benazir Bhutto assassination case, Mumbai terror attacks case and November 2010 Haj scandal.

In another application, the petitioner has sought a directive to the government to grant the family a compensation of Rs5 million. He has attached a May 9, 2013 letter of Saud Ahmed to the interior secretary, recommending compensation and a national award for late Chaudhry Zulfikar.

Chaudhry Nisar also cited the example of Karachi CID DSP Aslam Khan in whose case the government announced a compensation of Rs20m after he sacrificed his life in the line of duty.