Shahid Hamid murder case: ATC orders proclamation process against absconders

KESC head, two others were killed in a targeted attack in 1997

KARACHI: The murder case of managing director of Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC), now K-Electric, his driver and guard has inched closer to the beginning of a trial once again.

An anti-terrorism court ordered on Monday the police to initiate proceedings of proclamation against the absconders, including the top leadership of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

The ATC-V judge directed the investigating officer of the 19-year-old triple murder case to start proceedings against absconders — MQM chief Altaf Hussain, convener Nadeem Nusrat, London-based leader Suhail Zaidi, two workers, Rashid Akhtar and Athar Hussain — under Section 87 (proclamation) and 88 (attachment of property) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

MQM chief, convener and the London-based leader have been implicated in the case for allegedly instigating the murder and the two workers have been nominated as alleged assailants.

All the five suspects are still at large according to the report submitted before the judge, said the investigation officer (IO), adding that the police raided their available addresses but could not find them. It has been ascertained that some of these men have left the country and some have gone into hiding to avert arrests, he claimed.

It is maintained by the prosecution that at least four men took part in the assassination: Saulat Ali Khan, infamous as Saulat Mirza, Minhaj Qazi, Akhtar and Hussain. Khan was executed last year for the murder while Qazi has been arrested and sent up for trial.

According to the details of the incident, on the morning of July 5, 1997, the assailants were waiting for the then KESC MD outside his residence and as soon as he left for the office they opened indiscriminate fire on his vehicle. After confirming that the victim was dead, they fled the scene in a white Suzuki Margalla.

The wife, Shahnaz Shahid Hamid, and son, Umar Shahid Hamid, of the slain bureaucrat are mentioned as key witnesses in the case. They had deposed against Khan during the earlier trial and now have also testified the same against Qazi during an identification parade in May, this year. Both of the witnesses also believe that Hamid was killed for his difference with the MQM.

Concluding the Monday proceedings, the ATC-V judge, who also issued death warrant for Khan, adjourned the hearing till July 28, seeking the report over the new order from the IO.

Meanwhile, the judicial remand of Qazi in jail was also extended.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 12^th, 2016.