Zahra Shahid’s murder suspect sent to police custody for 7 days

Defendant’s lawyer tells court he was abducted from his tailoring shop and electrocuted by Rangers.


Our Correspondents March 19, 2015
Arrest disclosed a day before SHC to entertain plea of his ‘illegal detention’. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE

KARACHI:


An anti-terrorism court (ATC) remanded on Thursday a suspect allegedly involved in the murder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader, Zahra Shahid Hussain, to police custody for seven days.


Hussain, a senior leader of the party’s Sindh chapter, was shot dead by armed motorcyclists on May 17, 2013, outside her house in Defence Housing Authority. The killing, which occurred hours before re-polls were scheduled in the constituency, sparked a wave of political tension as the PTI leadership accused the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) of manipulating the murder.

The suspect, Kaleem son of Abdul Karim, whose arrest was revealed by the Rangers on Wednesday, was brought to the ATC-III by the Gizri police. The hearing took place in the chamber of the judge, Saleem Raza Baloch. The investigation officer (IO) of the case contended that, after news of Kaleem’s arrest and his involvement in Hussain’s murder was aired by some news channels, he rushed to the paramilitary force’s office seeking the suspect’s custody.

The IO said that Kaleem had confessed to his involvement in the murder during the initial interrogation and had confirmed he was present in the meeting that discussed the plot to kill Hussain. Kaleem had also revealed that the assailants hid their weapons used in the killing at a unit office of the MQM two days after the incident.

On the other hand, Advocate Muhammad Jiwani, who was representing the suspect, told the court that his client was abducted by armed personnel in plainclothes from his tailoring shop in Boat Basin on February 25. He added that a petition regarding Kaleem’s abduction, filed by his mother, was also pending with the Sindh High Court (SHC). Jiwani also submitted that Kaleem was subjected to torture by the Rangers and some of his body parts were electrocuted.

The judge, concluding the hearing, granted the police a seven-day physical remand of the suspect. The IO was also directed to get the suspect medically examined from Civil hospital and submit a report to the court by the next hearing.

Two other suspects, Rashid and Zahid Abbas Zaidi, implicated in the case are currently in jail custody. Four other absconding suspects, Junaid Bukhari, Tariq Nawaz, Asif alias Ganja and Irfan alias Lamba, have been declared proclaimed offenders by the same court. The case has recently been shifted from ATC-III to ATC-VIII.

Missing since Feb 25

The SHC granted a week’s time to the Rangers’ provincial director-general and others to file their replies about Kaleem’s detention. A division bench, comprising justices Ahmed Ali M Sheikh and Muhammad Iqbal Kalhoro, called the reports  on a petition challenging the alleged illegal detention of Kaleem, a worker of the MQM. His mother, Qafia Begum, had taken the provincial home secretary, the Rangers DG, the police IG and others for unlawfully detaining her son. In the plea, the petitioner stated that her son is a tailor by profession and has been working in Gulf Shopping Centre in Clifton. She told the judges that law enforcers in plainclothes had arrested him from the shop on February 25. Lawyer Khursheed Anwar argued that his client’s son was not involved in any criminal activity.

At the last hearing, the judges had issued notices to the Rangers, police and other authorities to file comments regarding Kaleem’s detention. During Thursday’s proceedings, the judges found that the comments were not filed by the respondents. The bench directed them to submit the same within a week and adjourned the hearing.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 20th, 2015. 

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