Fatal argument: Lashari's mother accuses Sindh CM of interfering in investigations

Sulaiman Lashari was gunned down allegedly by another boy Salman Abro.

KARACHI: The mother of Sulaiman Lashari, who was gunned down allegedly by another teenage boy, has accused the Sindh chief minister (CM) of interfering in the murder investigations.

He is favouring the accused boy, Salman Abro, claimed Erum Naz, while speaking to the media at Karachi Press Club on Thursday. "If something unfortunate happens to my husband and son, the CM will be responsible," she said. "It has been more than six months and still we have not been given justice."

She questioned why CM Qaim Ali Shah has ordered a reinvestigation into the murder case. "Is he backing SSP Abro?" she asked, referring to Salman's father, Ghulam Sarwar Abro, who is an SSP at Sakrand Police Training Centre. O' Levels student Sulaiman was gunned down at his house in Defence Housing Authority on May 8.

"SSP Ghulam Abro has been pressurising us using various tactics. We are constantly receiving threats," she said, adding that a fair investigation is unlikely unless SSP Abro is removed from his post. "We were assured security by AIG Ghulam Qadir Thebo when the case was filed but we have yet to receive any," she said.

The counsel for Lashari's family, Salahuddin Panhwar, said that the police have received orders, allegedly from the CM Secretariat, to re-investigate the murder case. "A few days ago, we were informed that Sindh IG Ghulam Haider Jamali has ordered a re-investigation of the case forming a team under DIG Aftab Pathan," he claimed. "When we opposed this by filing a petition in the Sindh High Court, the IG told the court that he was given orders by the CM."

At least 15 petitions have been filed in different courts by the accused to delay the case, he said, adding that those applications "were rejected in view of justice". Still, the charges could not be framed in the case as the accused kept filing one application after another to delay the proceedings, Panhwar added.

According to him, the defence side tried to pressurise the ATC-III judge, Saleem Raza Baloch, on July 7 this year by submitting a bail order in the form of written arguments to get a favourable order. "When the order was not in their favour, they moved the SHC against the judge." Panhwar said they may go to the Supreme Court if the matters stay the same.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 21^st, 2014.