Land-grab murder case: Supreme Court disposes of suo motu

Chief Justice directs police to complete investigation at the earliest.

ISLAMABAD:

A three-judge SC bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary disposed of a suo motu case after the Rawalpindi police arrested Imtiaz Khokhar aka Taji Khokhar in connection with killing Saira Bibi, 50, over a land dispute last August.

The application was filed by the husband of the deceased, who got into a land dispute with Taji, who is the brother of former National Assembly deputy speaker Nawaz Khokhar and uncle of former human rights adviser to the PM Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, over a plot in Dhoke Gangal along the Islamabad Highway.

“The purpose of the suo motu has been served. My client, Taji Khokhar had been arrested. The matter cannot proceed further,” Advocate Zahid Bukhari commented sarcastically, to which Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed responded by saying that the bench never has any personal grudges against anyone.

Bukhari’s comment was a response to Advocate Ghufran Khursheed Imtiazi, who while representing the complainant argued that the police had tried to silence the matter by declaring the accused innocent.

The CJ further directed the CPO to provide police protection to Bibi’s daughter Ayesha Yaqoob after her family received threats following the release of Taji’s sons.

On August 17 2012, Bibi was shot in front of a one-man judicial commission — Advocate Saimul Haq Satti — who was present at
the plot the accused has allegedly grabbed. She later died as a result of her injuries, leading to the registration of a murder case against Khokar, his sons and security guards.

The police also arrested former Airport Police station house officer Aziz Aslam Niazi on July 25 for allegedly tampering with the case files and giving a clean-chit to the accused.

Earlier, Taji went to Dubai on medical grounds. Returning in June, he was granted interim pre-arrest bail by an anti-terrorism court.

The accused withdrew his bail plea after SHO Niazi acquitted him and his sons of the charges.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 30^th, 2013.