The magistrate Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali, was shot in the head and died in hospital from serious injuries. A woman also killed and a bodyguard wounded. The assailants, on board a motorcycle, fled without a trace. The attack heightens tensions just days before the vote.

Islamabad (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The prosecutor in charge of the investigation into the murder of Benazir Bhutto, former Pakistani prime minister killed in an attack in December 2007, was shot dead this morning. The police sources refer that the ambush occurred while Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali - one of the most important prosecutors in the country - was heading to court to attend a hearing of the trial. The assailants, on board a motorcycle, ambushed the car in sector G-9 of the capital, where the prosecutor lived, and opened fire on his car. He suffered gunshot wounds to the head and he died shortly after in hospital. A woman, who was in the area where the attack occurred, also died in the attack and a bodyguard was slightly injured.

Police spokesman Mohammad Yousuf has confirmed that Ali "was immediately transported to hospital, but died from serious injuries." The murder adds to a climate of tension in a nation long the scene of massacres and ethnic and sectarian violence, which does not even spare the Christian minority. A phenomena that has been exacerbated in recent weeks, in view of the elections scheduled for May 11 next.

In response to the attack, and as a sign of solidarity for their murdered colleague, the lawyers of the district of Islamabad and Rawalpindi have announced a one day strike. Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali was one of the leading figures of the judiciary in Pakistan, as well as member of a special body called upon to shed light on the most sensitive cases (the Federal Investigation Authority, FIA). Last year his police escort was strengthened, as a result of death threats because of the delicate investigation he was working on.

So far there has been no official claim for the attack, but his death may be linked to one of the many inquiries which he held. Among these, the trial for the murder of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.  The Taliban among the suspects he was investigating even if the fundamentalist leader Baitullah Mehsud - who was later killed in a U.S. drone raid in 2009 - immediately denied any involvement.

Benazir's son, Bilawal Bhutto, the current leader of the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has instead pointed the finger at former president Pervez Musharraf, considered the moral instigator of the massacre, as well as responsible for not having provided her with security. That's why the former army general - who recently returned to Pakistan to run in elections, after four years of exile - is on trial and under house arrest. Musharraf, 69, is involved in a series of legal battles and is trying to escape arrest for several charges, including treason, and judicial processes relating to the assassination of Bhutto and another tribal leader in Balochistan. He was also involved in a savage political-institutional battle with the head of the Supreme Court Iftikhar Chaudhry. The Pakistani Taliban have also promised on several occasions to kill the former president, who came to power in 1999 with a military coup.

 

• pakistan
• benazir
• bhutto
• murder
• prosecutor