Special Prosecutor for Baldia Town Fire Case Steps Down

Shazia Hanjra, the special prosecutor in the Baldia Town fire case has stepped down after tendering a written resignation to the Ministry of Law and sending a notification to the Sindh government yesterday.

The case came back under the spotlight after recent revelations of a JIT report, in which MQM has been named as the party behind the fire which took the lives of over 250 people.

Hanjra, who was appointed as the special prosecutor, had concerns regarding the non-cooperation of police officials, delays in the investigation and lack of security provided to her. According to her, the Investigating Officer in the case was delaying matters and that the Sindh High Court’s order was not being followed.

Security risks to Ms. Shazia also played a major role in her decision, since despite her requests to the Sindh government, she was not provided with security at her residence nor during travel to and from work.

Now the Sindh government will be working with the Law Department to consider prosecutors who can replace Hanjra, but no names have come up so far.

The report which claimed MQM’s involvement was submitted to the Sindh High Court after being prepared by a Joint Investigation Team. According to the report, the information therein was gathered from one Mohammad Rizwan Qureshi, an alleged MQM worker.

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Posted by Hunain Naseer on Feb 17 2015. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.