Shahzeb murder case: SC seeks FIA version on Shahrukh’s escape

Calls report within three days on how the accused left country without an exit stamp.

RAWALPINDI/ KARACHI:

The Supreme Court on Friday ordered Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Director-General Muhammad Anwar Virk to submit within three days report on the initial failures of the Sindh staff regarding the Shahzeb Khan murder case.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry directed DG Virk to explain how the main suspect Shahrukh Jatoi managed to escape, and why traces were not found after his escape.

The chief justice sought the FIA chief’s response after FIA Karachi Director Muhammad Malik admitted that Jatoi, who stands accused of killing Khan over a petty dispute, managed to avoid the immigration counter at Jinnah International Airport altogether.

“The FIA has admitted that they failed, firstly, to stop the accused from escaping to Dubai, despite the fact that Malik – on the insistence of Pakistan Peoples Party MNA Nabeel Gabol – had alerted his Karachi staff on duty,” said the chief justice, while going through a report submitted by FIA officials. “And secondly, they failed to track down clues on how he managed to avoid the immigration counters and escaped.”

Malik elaborated that Jatoi had apparently reached the plane with the help of two or three Pakistan International Airlines protocol officers who, since then, had not come in to work.

Regarding the CCTV footage, he said that the Airport Security Force had informed them that they had already handed everything over to the police.



To this, DIG Shahid Hayat, also present in court, replied that they had, in fact, received 90 CDs, all of which had been thoroughly examined. None of them depicted any evidence on how Jatoi left the country.

“The escape of the accused underlines the fact that law enforcers promote the crime. They would remain unaware if any person, involved in any heinous crime, escapes from the country through airports,” observed Sheikh Azmat Saeed, a part of the three-judge bench also comprising Justice Khilji Arif Hussain.

The SC bench put off the hearing about the FIA’s investigation for ten days.

As for the report, Malik asked for one week, rather than three days, to assemble details on how Jatoi left the country on December 27 without an exit stamp.

The bench refused this request for more time.

In his conclusion, the chief justice directed the trial court to conduct day-to-day hearings, and conclude the case within seven days, according to the provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997.  The monitoring judges of the SC and the Sindh High Court were ordered to oversee the trial until its completion.

Furthermore, the court disposed of the suo motu notice as far as police investigation is concerned.

Responding to Jatoi’s plea, the bench stated that the trial should be fair, and no right of the accused should be denied.

Ambit of terrorism

The anti-terrorism court on Friday observed the case falls under the domain of terrorism, as the “element of terrorism is visible.”

Judge Ghulam Mustafa Memon made this observation while accepting the final charge sheet against the four accused -- Shahrukh Jatoi, Nawab Siraj Ali Talpur, Nawab Sajjad Ali Talpur and their employee Ghulam Murtaza Lashari.

Special Public Prosecutor Abul Maroof, who had earlier sought time to scrutinise the charge sheet, placed the report before the court on Friday.

However, in his opinion, “the case against accused [did] not fall within ambit of terrorism.”

Judge Memon disagreed, arguing that the crime had instilled a sense of fear in the minds of the people of the area, and the public at large.

Accepting the charge-sheet, the court observed that the element of terrorism, as described in Section 6 of the Anti Terrorism Act is, prima facie, visible in the crime. Thus, the case falls within ambit of the act.

The court issued a production order of the accused for February 28, and issued non-bailable warrants against the absconding co-accused -- Asif Lund, Suleman Jatoi, Nawab Ali Jatoi and Khurram.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 23^rd, 2013.