Imran Farooq murder case: FIA grilled for failing to appoint prosecutor

Investigation officer says interior ministry rejected proposed names

ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday questioned the seriousness of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in pursuing the Imran Farooq murder case after the authority failed to appoint a prosecutor in the case.

ATC-I judge Kausar Abbas Zaidi remarked, “if the FIA was not serious about pursuing the case, then it should clearly inform the court about it”. The judge said that if the prosecutor was not appointed by the next date of hearing, then the FIA director-general should come to court and explain the state of affairs.



The court expressed displeasure on the fact that the FIA has been carrying out investigations into the murder case for almost nine months and, despite assuring the court time and again, it has yet to appoint a prosecutor.

When the case was taken up, investigation officer Chaudhary Shahzad Zafar said that the FIA had forwarded names to the interior ministry for picking a name for the prosecutor’s slot, but they were rejected.



“Why shouldn’t the FIA director-general come to the court and explain,” the judge remarked adding that the suspects have been languishing in the jail for the past several months.

The ATC extended the judicial remand of the three suspects standing trial in the case  Moazzam Ali Khan, Khalid Shamim and Syed Mohsin Ali  till September 22.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2016.