Murder charges: ATC issues non-bailable arrest warrants for MNA Nawab Wassan

MNA Wassan reportedly attacked a rival party's election camp and killed an activist.

KARACHI: The anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Khairpur issued on Tuesday non-bailable arrest warrants against Pakistan Peoples Party MNA Nawab Wassan for allegedly killing a rival party's activist on the day of the general elections.

The court also ordered the police to arrest MNA Wassan and produce him before the court on April 26. The ATC issued the warrant on April 12 after the Sindh High Court Sukkur bench rejected his bail application. It ordered the police to produce him in court on Tuesday but the law enforcers failed to arrest him. On Tuesday, the irate judges issued non-bailable warrants against Wassan.

On May 11, 2013, MNA Wassan received news of a scuffle between his supporters and those of the Pakistan Muslim League - Functional (PML-F). He reached the PML-F camp near Khairpur's Mumtaz College and allegedly opened fire. As a result, PML-F's Abdul Wahab Morejo was killed on the spot while seven others, including a former taluka nazim of Khairpur, Tahir Imtiaz Phulpoto, were injured.

An FIR No. 104/2013 was lodged against Wassan and his supporters at A-section police station on the same day by Phulpoto. It included sections 302, 324, 337 H-2, 147, 148 and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code and section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act. Later, the case was charged in ATC Khairpur but Wassan was granted interim bail by the high court bench.

After the completion of the interim bail, Wassan appeared before the ATC in Khairpur to confirm his bail but the court rejected it and ordered the police to arrest him. Wassan managed, however, to escape from the court.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 16^th, 2014.