Absolved: Accused in Yousaf ‘Kazzab’ murder case acquitted

LAHORE:

An additional district and sessions judge on Tuesday gave the benefit of doubt to the last accused in Yousaf ‘Kazzab’ murder case and acquitted him of the murder charge. Yousaf had been gunned down in jail where he was serving on a death row following his conviction in a blasphemy case.

Ayaz Shuja, who was acquitted on Tuesday, had been accused of providing a pistol to Muhammad Tariq alias Mota, another death row convict in the jail where Yousaf was confined. Tariq and two other accused in the case were acquitted in 2006. A fourth accused, Nadeem Zulfi, who was also a death row convict, was hanged during the trial. On Tuesday, the judge ruled that only one of the witnesses had testified against Shuja. He accepted the petition and acquitted the accused of murder charges.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16^th, 2015.