ISLAMABAD: The son of a special prosecutor, who was killed in Islamabad in 2013, pleaded before the Supreme Court to order the concerned court to complete his father’s murder trial expeditiously by holding day to day proceedings.

The petition was moved before the SC by Chaudhry M. Nisar Ali, son of Chaudhry Zulfikar Ahmed, a special public prosecutor from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

At the time of his murder, Ahmed was investigating the Benazir Bhutto murder case.

He was killed by unidentified individuals who shot him 12 times as he left his home in Islamabad, in broad daylight, on May 6, the same day a bail petition of retired Gen Pervez Musharraf – a nominated accused in the case – was fixed for hearing before an anti-terrorism court.

The petition said the Islamabad Special Anti-Terrorism Court No.1 judge who granted bail to a suspect in his father’s murder, Mohammad Abdullah Umer alias Ghulamullah, on Jun 17, 2014 on medical grounds did so without consulting a medical board to examine the suspect’s condition.

Mr Umer, the petition contended, was a dangerous criminal.

On June 15, Mr Ali had petitioned the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for the cancellation of bail, but the high court disposed of the case and directed for the bail cancellation petition to be moved before the trial court.

The petition contended that prior to granted post-arrest bail, the trial court called for reports from the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) and Polyclinic hospital before granting bail, but did not call for any report from the National Institute of Rehabilitation and Medicine (NIRM), where the suspect was receiving medical treatment.

To date, the suspect has not submitted any medical report regarding his nerve conduction study (NCS) or electro myograph (EMG) before the court.

The petition claimed that the suspect, who is the son of a retired colonel, could have his NCS and EMG tests conducted at a Rawalpindi military hospital under surveillance by police, but this had not been done.

While granting bail to the suspect, the trial court ignored that the suspect was involved in a number of cases under the Anti Terrorism Act, including the assassination of minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti, registered with Industrial Area police.

The petition stated that great injustice had been done to the petitioner by granting bail to the suspect.

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2016