Special public prosecutors in the Safoora bus attack case on Tuesday resigned from the case, it was revealed.Both Muhammad Khan Burero and Mubashir Mirza resigned from the respective case, in which 45 people belonging to the Ismaili community were massacred after gunmen boarded their bus in Safoora Goth, in May this year. “The home department had pledged to provide us with security along with a monthly fee of Rs1.5 million, each. However, not only did the department fail to provide us with security but also paid us a sum of Rs0.15 million only,” the duo said while addressing the media. Earlier, the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) informed an anti-terrorism court about the 90-day preventive detention of two suspects alleged to have financed the assailants who carried out the Safoora bus attack. The Safoora Goth bus attack was one of the vilest and most shocking of terrorist attacks in the history of militancy and terrorism in the country. Forty-five innocent civilians lost their lives in the attack. Indeed, many suspects have been caught and await trial conducted by an anti-terrorism court. And yet, for some incomprehensible reason, the special prosecutors at the heart of the cases have neither been provided the security nor even paid the fees that they requested and were promised. Even if, for the sake of argument, the special prosecutors have acted in haste or overreacted, it is the responsibility of the Sindh government to ensure that there is regular and meaningful supervision of the investigation and judicial process. The prosecutorial system is weak and vulnerable, and open to influence and intimidation from external forces. In a case such as this, the highest prosecutorial standards are required. Both the federal and provincial governments, however, have failed to properly protect those engaged for a highly risky job. At the very least, this is a ‘lack of seriousness’ and will ring alarm bells, yet again, for members of any marginalised group in the country that is the victim of a terrorist attack. Once again, the state has shown weakness in the face of terror, failed to live up to reasonable expectations and left the advantage with those who spread fear and carnage in the name of sectarianism. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that there are powerful elements within government, provincial and federal, that support those who carry out sectarian attacks.
pk.shafaqna.com
