Imran Farooq murder: Muazzam’s wife urges IHC for speedy trial

Files petition calling for proceedings on day-to-day basis

ISLAMABAD: The wife of one of the suspects standing trial in the Dr Imran Farooq murder case has approached the Islamabad High Court urging it to direct the anti-terrorism court (ATC) to expedite the trial by conducting proceedings on a day-to-day basis.

Sadia Bano, wife of Muazzam Ali, filed the petition in the IHC through her counsel Nazia Bibi. She stated her family was facing problems due to the lengthy detention of her husband in Islamabad. Furthermore, she argued that since she lives in Karachi, travelling to the capital to visit her husband and attend court proceedings was exacting a toll.

She has made Ministry of interior, Director General of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the trial court respondents in the petition.

Bibi said that Bano’s husband was running a travel agency for the last 15 years and he had been picked up from his home in Karachi during a joint raid of the Rangers and police on April 12, 2015.

Thereafter, she said, Muazzam was shifted to Islamabad and his case is pending adjudication before an ATC. Bibi argued that the prosecution has yet to produce any witness before the court since the trial began.

In the petition, Bano stated that her “husband is facing agony of trial for long without any fault” and it was not possible for either her or her family to easily meet him in jail while undertaking long journeys between the two cities time and again.

She urged the court to direct the respondents to conduct the trial on a day-to-day basis and expedite it.

Earlier, the FIA had after almost 10 months appointed a prosecutor in the case. The FIA’s decision to appoint its Counter-Terrorism Wing Deputy Director Waseem Ranjha as prosecutor came after the ATC conducting the trial had questioned the seriousness of the agency in pursuing the case.

The authority had failed to appoint a prosecutor in the case despite repeated orders from the court.

The court had expressed displeasure over the fact that the FIA was carrying out investigations into the case for several months but had failed to appoint a prosecutor despite assuring the court time and again. With no prosecutor appointed, the defence lawyer remained unable to present his arguments.

Two suspects, Khalid Shamim and Syed Mohsin Ali, have already recorded their confessional statements before the magistrate alleging that the slain Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader was killed as he was a “potent threat to the leadership of MQM.” Moazzam has not yet recorded confessional statement in the case.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2016.