A trial court in Rawalpindi on Saturday exonerated yet another suspect who was arrested for his role in the murder of former minister for minorities Shahbaz Bhatti.
The accused, Ziaur Rehman, withdrew his bail plea from the court of Special Judge anti-terrorism court II, Rana Masood Akhtar, after an SHO Industrial Area police said he was no longer wanted in the case due to lack of evidence.
Rehman, along with former suspect Abid Malik, was suspected by the family of the deceased minister in the case. The family cited business disputes as their reason for suspicion. Police had already exonerated Malik from the case in February, after finding no evidence against him.
Earlier, when police had arrested Malik from Lahore Airport, Zia managed to escape arrest. Similarly, last June, the trial court released a man arrested who was arrested on suspicion of involvement in the murder case after the police could not bring any evidence against him.
Hafiz Nazar Muhammad was arrested last June for making threatening calls to the minorities MPA from Sargodha, but police did not manage to find any evidence against him.
At the scene of Bhatti’s murder in 2011, Islamabad police had recovered a leaflet left there, presumably by the attackers, who claimed they killed the minorities minister for raising his voice against blasphemy laws in the country.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 6th, 2012.
COMMENTS (21)
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This is a shame for humanity. every time i hear something like this, I feel that people who defend murders of minorities are lost wars. So messed up to support a murder for any reason.!
@Kaalchakra: "sudden death from stress-related failure of glandiocular retina"??? Where did you come up with this term? Ocular is eye, Retina is part of the eye. Don't even know what Glandi is. Post Mortem probably written by the same "competent" Police that cannot differentiate a bullet hole from a .....
Prosecution and conviction only in blasphemy cases, with lot of witnesses and over enthusiastic police force.
Adding insult to insult - 'justice' - murdered.
Sunny bhai
And google is now proof for you? Everything that google brings up is supposed to be the absolute truth? We should simply use google and shut down the courts and the law.
In your Islamophobia and hatred, you will go to any lengths to blame Muslims.
To all those criticising the judiciary, you have no idea what you're talking about. Pakistan, like India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and most other third world countries has a less than 5% conviction rate. That means that if an accused is arrested by the police and charges are framed then there is a 95% chance that he will be let go. This is a fact.
The conviction rate is low because police investigation in Pakistan relies primarily on torture and produces no evidence that any just and fair court, anywhere in the world can rely on. This low conviction rate is multiplied by the vast majority of cases in which the police make no arrests whatsoever.
So, for those who have issues connecting the dots, in Pakistan, as in most comparable countries there is a less than 1% chance that an actual criminal will be brought to justice. This is a failure of the police and the prosecution service, not the judiciary.
And for those who trouble reading, this article clearly says that the accused was let go after the police told the judge that "he was no longer wanted in the case due to lack of evidence." What sort of judge would continue to detain a person after that?
it has become a fashion to blame the judiciary. the police, investigators and lawyers are equally important for dispensing justice any where. moreover, there are other factors too that influence a court's proceedings, corruption is one of them. the system however flawless tends to get manipulated. my Indian friends should know that one example of a Muslim Dr. Chishti a visitor from Pakistan apparently innocent got sentence to death for a murder after 19 years! by the courts in India!?
@Kaalchakra Brother, where is your memory, shahbaz bhatti was shot dead in islamabad, if you don't remember search it on google...
must be the result of a weak or bias investigation and flawed prosecution! judiciary is unfairly blamed here.
Police is just passing time by arresting irrelevant people and completely ignoring the religious extremists responsible for murder.
'justice is blind' - in this country it has no senses - not even 6th sense.
The Professionalsim of our police highlighted in this case by sheer incompetence .What to talk about murder of ordinary man
@Ishtiaer Hussain AZAD ADLIA ZINDABAD Why complain The campaign was for FREE ADLIA only Not for FAIR ADLIAWhen it comes to terrorists being charged with murder of non-Muslims and secular minded personalities in Pakistan, our so-called intelligentsia brings high moral arguments of "innocent until proven guilty" but when they are confronted with the fact that Zardari was also condemned for 11 long years without having a single charge proved against him, they turn their backs on it. A true land of hypocrites. In Pakistan, evidence is the most easily-destroyable thing. If it is not destroyed instantly on the threatening calls from the perpetrators, the man holding it is destroyed. So you are talking of lack of evidence? Please! In Pakistan, if you are proven guilty of terrorism, you can easily get away with it either by killing judges or appealing against the verdict in higher courts on the same grounds of 'lack of evidence'.
why am i not surprised???
@Kaalchakra: You have lost it all the way.
Muslim talks about diversity acceptance of their way of life but when it comes to them accepting the minority they have nothing to show for. Supreme Court is too busy wasting its resources on cases like memogate but has not dispense justice to Rinkle Kumari and other girls and now no justice for Christians. I recommend that every Judge in Pakistan should read Tarek Fateh's book "Chasing a Mirage".
No justice for non-muslims in the land of hypocrites. Now muslims must not shout about muslims being discriminated in non-muslim nations, because they have no moral right,none what so ever, to do that.
A Federal Minister was killed in the broad day light in Islamabad and no feathers ruffled in "Azad Adlia", media and bureaucracy. Shouldn't the CJ take sou moto notice of the case and ensure that speedy and due justice is done? Rather he is busy with raising petty politically-motivated cases to garner political support. When justice is mixed with politics, it makes for a powerful explosive which would one day shake the very foundations on which the entire structure of justice is erected.
innocent until proven guilty not guilty until proven innocent detention which exceeds seven months without charge is unconstitutional
Every man who dies in Pakistan is NOT because he is 'killed'. Mr Bhatti had been a diabetic for many years. His post-mortem reports indicated sudden death from stress-related failure of glandiocular retina. When will we stop harassing innocent people for a murder that was never there!