Jalal Morejo should once again thank his lucky stars since he has managed to evade the noose yet again.
The authorities at Central Jail I were ready to hang the convict during the early hours of Thursday, but Morejo managed to dodge death for the 17th consecutive time.
On July 1, the district and sessions court in Naushehro Feroze had issued the 17th black warrant, ordering the jail to hang Morejo on July 14. Yet the orders have still not been executed. Morejo, a resident of village Chanari, was convicted for killing a man, Haji Mohammad Haroon, in 1997. He shot Haroon dead as the victim was offering Friday prayers in the village mosque, to avenge the murder of one of his close relatives.
The dispute relating to Morejo’s relative’s murder was settled amicably with the arbitration of a jirga, which fined Haroon and his associates. However, Morejo defied the jirga’s verdict and killed Haroon. A case was registered against him at Naushehro Feroze police station, after which he was arrested.
On April 7, 2000, the court awarded Morejo the death penalty and he subsequently filed a review petition in the high court, which was dismissed on January 28, 2004. Later, the convict approached the Supreme Court against the verdict, but that petition was also dismissed on July 27, 2005.
Finally, he made a clemency plea to the then president Pervez Musharraf, but that too was dismissed, on December 24, 2007. Subsequently, his first black warrant was issued for March 14, 2008, but just two days before the execution, his death penalty was postponed for two month, because the newly installed government was expected to amend the law of capital punishment.
Subsequently, the court issued many black warrants yet his death penalty was postponed by the President of Pakistan. After the expiry of the last death warrant on June 30, another black warrant will be negated because President Asif Ali Zardari has once again postponed death penalties throughout the country till September 30.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 15th, 2011.
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