Sarfraz Shah murder case trial: Judge reports in sick

Upon the judge’s direction, the court announced an adjournment till Saturday.

KARACHI:

The proceedings in the Sarfraz Shah murder case were adjourned on Friday till Saturday as the judge of the Anti-Terrorism Court (I) for the Karachi division was reported as sick.

The court was scheduled to record the statements of six Pakistan Rangers personnel and a civilian for killing Syed Sarfraz Shah at Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Park, Boat Basin, Clifton on June 8.

On Friday, Special Public Prosecutor Muhammad Khan Buriro, all seven accused men and the defence lawyers came to court where the case was to proceed at 10 am. But the staff was informed that judge Bashir Ahmed Khoso would not be coming due to a sudden sickness.

Upon the judge’s direction, the reader of the court announced an adjournment till Saturday.

The men facing trial are Shahid Zafar, Muhammad Afzal, Inspector Baha-ur Rahman, Liaquat Ali, Muhammad Tariq, Manthar Ali and Afsar Khan.

The charges are that the killing spread terror, created fear and a sense of insecurity in the public and society and thus the men had committed an offence under sections 6 (1) (b), 6 (2) (a) of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 read with section 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code, punishable under section 7 (a) of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 30^th,  2011.