SHC hears plea for recovery of missing PTI activist

Court upholds death sentence over murder during street robbery

KARACH:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has issued notices to all parties including the secretary of the Interior department, the Sindh police chief, the head of the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of the Crime Investigation Unit (CIA) and the provincial advocate general while hearing a plea regarding the recovery of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) social media activist Muhammad Salman Khan.

Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto headed the twomember bench headed that heard the petition.

The petitioner’s counsel said that Salman had been missing after he participated in the PTI demonstration at Karachi Press Club.

The counsel said there were concerns that the activist might be implicated in a false case.

The lawyer told the court that the Artillery Maidan police station was not registering a first information report (FIR) on their complaint while requesting the court to order them to do so.

The court issued notices to the parties concerned and sought their response by April 10.

Missing persons Meanwhile, the SHC bench heard the petitions related to the recovery of MQM workers and other missing persons.

The petitioner’s counsel submitted that MQM workers Fahimullah and Muhammad Saqib went missing from Clifton in 2015.

The court expressed ire at the performance of the joint investigation team (JIT) working on the recovery of missing persons.

What is the use of such JITs in which there is no progress, Justice Phulpoto was quoted as saying.

Conviction upheld A two-member SHC bench headed by Justice KK Agha upheld the death penalty awarded to Khalid Zafar, who was convicted for murdering a man who resisted a robbery in 2014.

The court rejected Zafar’s appeal against the sentence.

On February 24, 2014, the accused killed a man named Sajjad on his resistance during a robbery bid at a shop in Haram Apartments, Gulshan-e-Iqbal.