PTI MPA attack case prosecutor favours PPP’s Talpur

Insists 'evidence is insufficient to prove Talpur's involvement'

HYDERABAD: Favouring provincial minister Nawab Taimur Talpur and SSP Aijaz Shaikh in his report pertaining to the attack on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Haleem Adil Sheikh, Umerkot district public prosecutor (DPP) Muhammad Arif Nizamani submitted the report before a civil judge and a judicial magistrate of Kunri, Umerkot, on Wednesday.

Sheikh's convoy was allegedly attacked by men belonging to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) when he visited Kunri on November 1, 2019, to attend the funeral prayers of victims of the Tezgam Express inferno. The PTI leader had accused Talpur for orchestrating the attack and the SSP for conniving with the former.

Nizamani's report differs from the one submitted to his office by investigation officer Muhammad Saleem Marwat, who implicated both Talpur and the SSP for abetting the attack. "... [the] IO wrongly accused Nawab Taimur Talpur and Shakeel Bajwa under Section 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). Further, evidence is insufficient to prove Talpur and Bajwa's involvement in the attack," the DPP wrote in the report.

The DPP also objected to the insertion of Section 506 of the PPC, pertaining to criminal intimidation, in the IO's report, arguing that the allegation did not constitute such intimidation. "... mere reading of the FIR of the case shows that no overt act was done by Talpur, hence, mere presence is no offence at all," the DPP contended, referring to the presence of Talpur and the SSP at the funeral.

The investigation of the case was transferred to Karachi's East district police on the court's order after Sheikh expressed lack of trust in Umerkot police. The IO, in his report, stated that both Talpur and Bajwa instigated the persons who threw stones, tomatoes and eggs on the vehicles in Shaikh's convoy and fired aerial shots.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2020.