ISLAMABAD, May 14: A special prosecutor of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Tuesday alleged that caretaker interior minister Malik Habib Khan was responsible for the murder of Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali, another special prosecutor.

He said the minister had ordered the withdrawal of security staff deployed for the prosecutors putting their lives in danger.

The FIA special prosecutor, Chaudhry Zulfiqar, was gunned down near his residence in Sector G-9 by unknown men on May 3 while he was on his way to the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Rawalpindi to attend the proceedings of Benazir Bhutto murder case.

Talking to Dawn after attending the proceedings of the murder case, Mohammad Azhar Chaudhry said the joint investigation team (JIT) constituted to probe the murder of Chaudhry Zulfiqar should also interrogate the caretaker minister who had withdrawn security of the prosecutors.

He said during the previous government, two to three security guards were deployed for each prosecutor but after assuming the charge of his office in March the caretaker minister ordered the removal of the guards.

“After our repeated requests, the director general FIA managed one security guard from the Frontier Constabulary for Chaudhry Zulfiqar and for me during the first week of April,” he added.

However, a senior official of the interior ministry denied the allegations.

He said providing security to the prosecutors was not the job of the interior ministry, rather the local police were responsible for it.

He said during the previous government, some personnel had been deployed for the security of the prosecutors but under the Election Commission of Pakistan directives security for non-entitled persons were withdrawn. “Since these prosecutors were also not entitled to official security, the guards were withdrawn,” he said.

Malik Habib, the caretaker interior minister, told Dawn that it was not the interior ministry but the inspector general of Islamabad police who was responsible for providing security to the prosecutors.

Blaming the interior minister for not providing adequate security is “nothing but rubbish” as I have nothing to do with the security of the prosecutors, he added.

It may be noted that on Monday, the special prosecutor Azhar Chaudhry had said if he was not provided a ‘box security’ he would not attend the proceedings of the high-profile murder case.

Though the government has not issued any notification, Mr Azhar on Tuesday arrived at the ATC in a ‘box security’ of 25 Rangers officials and policemen provided to him by the interior ministry.

However, when the special prosecutor after coming out of the court started talking to the mediapersons, the Rangers officials left the premises leaving him alone.

Earlier, when the ATC Judge Chaudhry Habibur Rehman resumed the proceedings, the prosecutor requested him to transfer the case to any other court saying it had been lingering on for over five years.

It annoyed the judge who asked Mr Chaudhry to approach the Lahore High Court (LHC) if he was not satisfied with the court.

“I am doing my job and proceeding with this case in accordance with the prescribed procedure.” The court has not caused any delay,” the judge said. “If you have any objection on the working of this court, you may approach the LHC for transfer of the case,” he added.

It may be mentioned that ATC Judge Chaudhry Habibur Rehman in November 2008 had indicted five persons - Sher Zaman, Abdul Rasheed, Aitzaz Shah, Rafaqat Hussain and Hasnain Gul - for abetting the killing of the former prime minister.

At that time, the murder case was being investigated by the JIT of Punjab police.

The court had also started the trial of the accused persons but the PPP government transferred the matter from the Punjab government to the FIA in August 2009.

So far, the investigation agency has submitted six challans. The challan in respect of General (retired) Pervez Musharraf is still awaited.

The court directed the prosecutor to submit the challan regarding Mr Musharraf and adjourned the hearing till May 28.

The same court also took up the post-arrest bail petition of Gen Musharraf but put off its hearing till May 20 as the counsel for the former military ruler was abroad in connection with his other engagements.