Prosecutors to resign over govt’s ‘broken promises’

The government had pledged an amount of Rs1.5 million to each of them as well as promised to provide security

KARACHI:

The special public prosecutor duo tasked with the Safoora bus attack case decided on Tuesday to resign, citing reasons such as security concerns, nearly two months after they were appointed.

The two-member team, comprising Muhammad Khan Buriro and Mubashir Mirza, was engaged in the case in August by the Sindh government on the recommendations of the Sindh IG. The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after the Rangers director-general expressed concern over the weak prosecution system in the province and asked to appoint competent officers to pursue terrorism cases.

The [provincial] government had pledged an amount of Rs1.5 million to each of them as well as promised to provide security, Buriro told the media.

On several occasions, he maintained, the home department was requested to provide security but to no avail.

The attorneys also revealed that the fee disbursed to them was just a fraction of what was promised, they said. "We were only paid Rs0.15 million and that too, very recently."

Buriro concluded that they had verbally informed the government about their decision to quit the case. However, the official resignation application will be moved today (Wednesday), he vowed.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 21^st, 2015.