Sarfraz Shah killing: One man fired, but all of them were complicit, says DIG

SHC sends plea for transfer back to anti-terrrorism court to decide.

KARACHI:

Even though just one shot was fired, the Rangers men acted in unison when they encircled the unarmed Sarfraz Shah. They pointed their weapons at him and thus they were conjoined in the murder.

These were the answers the investigating officer in the case, DIG Sultan Khawaja gave to questions in the anti-terrorism court on Wednesday during the hearing of the high-profile case.

To a question from the defence, the DIG said that all the arms issued to the Rangers were used in the commission of the murder. Explaining the point further voluntarily, he said that the shots were fired by Shahid Zafar from his G-3 rifle but the other accused men also pointed their arms at the 22-year-old.

Thus, when the defence suggested that there was no plan, design, common intention or intention to terrorise people, the DIG replied that all these elements were there.

To a question on why he has not examined or recorded the statements of witnesses who described the act of killing Sarfraz Shah a murder, Khawaja said that all the staff and officers at the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Park said that the incident had left them in shock and terror. He said besides this, nine other witnesses had said in their statements that they felt terror when they saw the footage of the incident on television. To another suggestion, he said that deceased was “neither an enemy nor a robber”.

After the completion of the testimony, Special Public Prosecutor Muhammad Khan Buriro said the prosecution rested.

Judge Bashir Ahmed Khoso adjourned the hearing till Thursday afternoon when all six accused men will be examined. They will also be allowed to produce any defence witness.

Jurisdiction

Meanwhile, the matter of the jurisdiction to hear the case was sent back to the anti-terrorism court that earlier rejected the argument that it could be heard by an ordinary court. The defence has been trying to have the case transferred from the anti-terrorism court.

On Wednesday, the Sindh High Court disposed of a plea to transfer the trial to a sessions court. The order was stated to be by consent as the bench proposed that the question of jurisdiction could be raised at the time of final arguments.

Syed Mehmood Alam Rizvi advocate, appearing for one of the accused men, Muhammad Afzal Khan, submitted that the joint investigation team’s report to the defence on Tuesday, explicitly holds that no element of terrorism was found in the alleged incident of June 8.

He submitted that while the instant revision application was pending hearing, new facts and details have surfaced. Now it is a case fit to be transferred from the ATC to an ordinary court. He said that this may also benefit the complainant, Salik Shah, who is the brother of the victim Sarfraz Shah. The parties may arrive at an out-of-court settlement.

Sarfraz Shah, 22, a resident of Hijrat Colony, was shot and injured by a Rangers man, who was part of a six-man strong mobile squad. Shah was turned over to the Rangers by a civilian Afsar Khan, who accused him of looting his friend and girlfriend at gunpoint.

Sindh Prosecutor General Shahadat Awan opposed the plea to transfer the case and said that this could not happen as the Supreme Court had ruled that prima facie it was to be challaned before an ATC. The counsel for the applicant, rebutting the arguments, said that the SC order was tentative and it left the decision to the Investigating Officer. He had to decide and file a charge sheet before “a court of competent jurisdiction” and thus a trial before an ATC was not according to the SC orders.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28^th, 2011.