Alleged blasphemy case: Zulfiqar Mirza changes lawyer

Hearing adjourned till March 31.

KARACHI:

Anwar Mansoor Khan replaced Muhammad Ashraf Samoo as the lawyer for former provincial home minister Zulfiqar Mirza as the counsel for the defense in a criminal application filed by Sindh minister Rauf Siddiqui, seeking the registration of an FIR on the charge of blasphemy against Mirza.

This change, accompanied by a request for adjournment by the new lawyer, made Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar of the Sindh High Court adjourn the hearing.

Justice Mazhar, however, told the defense side that this case would now be heard only on Saturdays and adjourned the hearing till March 31.

Earlier, the court also heard Rauf Siddiqui who opposed the adjournment. Addressing the court, he said that “on every hearing, the defense side comes with a new face. It is a very simple issue, of the registration of an FIR. Once it is done, every side can argue out the case. Five months have passed and this is the 30th hearing today,” he submitted, requesting for the technicalities to be ignored.

He was advised that it would be better as once all technical issues are addressed, the proceedings would be uninterrupted.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 17^th, 2012.