PTI leader’s assassination: Police start probe into Zahra Hussain’s murder

A case has been registered against unidentified men by the state after the family refused.

KARACHI: The police have registered an FIR of the assassination of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Zahra Shahid Hussain on the fourth day of her assassination after the family refused to do so. 

An FIR number 198/13 has been registered under the 302/34 section of the Pakistan Penal Code and section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act against two unidentified men.

Hussain was shot dead outside her house in Phase-IV Defence Housing Authority on May 18. The family had initially asked the police for time to complete the burial rites of the deceased before lodging the FIR. Later, the family refused, however, a probe into the assassination after which the police have registered an FIR on behalf of Gizri police station SHO Sohail Ahmed.

Ahmed told The Express Tribune that ‘I have recorded my statement in the FIR that the PTI Sindh senior vice-president was shot dead by two unidentified men outside her residence on May 18.’ He added that, as the nature of the incident has yet to be ascertained, he had stated in the FIR that the deceased was killed for ‘unexplained’ reasons.



Gizri DSP Azam Baloch, who is also a member of the investigation team, told The Express Tribune that the police had been prompted to register the case on behalf of the state after the family refused. “Nobody from the family or even the party approached us to register the case. The family assured us that they would register an FIR after they would get some free time, but they recently retracted their earlier statements and said they do not want a probe into the incident.” He added that, now that an investigation had been initiated by the state, the family could be called in for questioning by the police investigators if required.

PTI decides not to take names

At a press conference on Wednesday, PTI leaders explained that the party decided not to take names in the FIR after consulting its legal team. “The names can be included anytime as the case proceeds, said PTI central leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi. He did wonder why the police failed to name the suspects in the FIR lodged by the state. “This reflects an apparent bias in the conduct of the police when they failed to consider the statement of the head of a party whose office-bearer became a victim of target killing.”

Naqvi insisted the police should record Imran Khan’s statement after he held the Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain responsible for the murder on television.

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