Former SHC judge's attacker 'mysteriously disappears' from Sukkur jail

Suspect's brother was told Muhammad Muawiya had been transferred to a jail in Karachi

KARACHI: An alleged Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) activist who was under trial for an attack on former Sindh High Court (SHC) Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar has 'mysteriously disappeared' from Sukkur jail.

Muhammad Muawiya was taken into custody with several others associated with LeJ, for the attack on Justice Baqar's convoy on June 26, 2013 near SHC.



According to reports, Muawiya's brother went to visit him in jail upon which he was told by Sukkur Jail officials that Muawiya has been transferred to a prison in Karachi.

"I went to visit Muawiya's brother in Sukkur jail, but I was told he had been transferred to Karachi. Upon arriving in Karachi's Malir District Jail, security officials told me that they have no information about Muawiya's whereabouts," the suspect's brother told The Express Tribune.

Following the series of incidents, Muawiya's brother filed a petition in SHC as result of which notices were issued to IG jails, superintendents of Sukkur Central Jail and Malir District Jail to file comments by August 18.

Nine people – mostly policemen and paramilitary troops – were killed and over a dozen injured in a bomb attack on the convoy of Justice Baqar in the Burns Road neighbourhood of Karachi in June 2013.



The former judge was also injured in the attack that the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed was carried out by its fighters.

Justice Baqar was travelling to the Sindh High Court when the militants remotely triggered an improvised explosive device (IED) planted on a motorcycle. The subsequent blast destroyed Justice Baqar’s Honda Civic, two police vans and two Rangers motorcycles.

Walls of the nearby houses were damaged and windows of several buildings in the neighbourhood were shattered by the thud of the blast. The attack took place near an area where important government buildings – including Sindh High Court, Sindh Assembly and Sindh Secretariat – are located.

Six policemen, two Rangers personnel and Justice Baqar’s driver were killed in the bomb attack. Although the judge survived, he was badly wounded along with six policemen, two Rangers personnel and a passer-by woman and her daughter.