Shershah carnage case: Judge orders ID parade as witnesses come forward

Judge passed the orders on an application moved by Inspector Mir Aslam, the investigating officer (IO) in the case.

KARACHI: As seven witnesses have come forward, an identification parade should be held of the men accused in the Shershah scrap market carnage case, directed Justice Sajjad Ali Shah of the Sindh High Court (SHC) in his capacity as administrative judge for the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATCs) on Monday.

The AJ passed the orders on an application moved by Inspector Mir Aslam, the investigating officer (IO) in the case.

The accused men, Shafi Muhammad, Aslam Pervez and Nawaz Ali, were arrested in this case and sent to Central Prison, Karachi on the orders of the AJ.

The IO stated that seven witnesses, Muhammad Ateeq, Muhammad Tahir, Kashif, Rashid, Abdul Raheem, Muhammad Kamran and Muhammad Sajid, have come forward. He sought permission of the AJ to produce the accused men in an identification parade before the witnesses.

Arshad Iqbal Cheema, Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) assisting the court, said that earlier, two witnesses had failed to identify the accused before a judicial magistrate and in view of this, the identification by other witnesses was crucial to the case. The IO also referred to the release of nine co-accused men on orders of the AJ on the basis that the case complainant had failed to identify them.

The judge directed the JM concerned to hold an identification parade as per law within a week’s time inside the Central Prison Karachi.

Thirteen workers and owners of shops in the Shershah scrap market were killed on October 19, 2010 when unidentified armed men on motorcycles opened indiscriminate fire.

Six shopkeepers were also injured. The FIR was registered the next day on the basis of a written statement by complainant Nafees.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 1^st,  2011.