The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday issued a bailable warrant for a respondent in the Mir Murtaza Bhutto murder case for his failure to appear at the hearing, and directed all the respondents to attend the proceedings on the next date of hearing.
The SHC was hearing appeals against the acquittal of all the accused, including police officials, in the murder case. Murtaza, brother of the then prime minister and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chief Benazir Bhutto, was killed on September 20, 1996, in an alleged shoot-out in Clifton, along with seven others, including his close aide Ashiq Jatoi.
Former District South SSP Wajid Ali Durrani, then DIG Shoaib Suddle, former Intelligence Bureau director Masood Sharif, then Saddar ASP Shahid Hayat, then Clifton ASP Rai Mohammad Tahir and other police officials had been acquitted by an additional district & sessions court (South) on December 5, 2009, of the murders. Police also filed an appeal against the acquittal of PPP-Shaheed Bhutto activists.An SHC division bench headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto said that the SHO concerned had been directed to submit verification reports as regards the death of the respondents Sharif, Hayat, Shabbir Ahmed Qaimkhani, Agha Mohammad Jamil and Muslim Shah, but no report had been submitted yet.
The court issued a show-cause notice to the SHO asking why he failed to submit the reports, and directed the SP concerned to submit the verification reports. The court also directed the SHO to verify the death of the respondent Ghulam Shabbir and submit his death verification on the next date of hearing.
The court was informed that the respondent Zulfiqar Ahmed was absent. The court directed the office to issue a bailable warrant against him for his production through the SHO concerned.
