Shahbaz Bhatti murder: Court seeks response on accused’s acquittal petition

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has asked the state to respond to the acquittal plea of an accused in the murder of former minister of minorities’ affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti.

A two-member bench of the IHC, comprising Justices Athar Minallah and Amir Farooq, issued a notice to the state on Wednesday while hearing Abdullah Umar Abbasi’s petition for his acquittal from the case.

Abbasi was arrested in 2013 after the police accused him of involvement in Bhatti’s murder. He has also been accused of involvement in the assassination of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) prosecutor general Chaudhry Zulfiqar.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Abbasi’s counsel Basharatullah Khan claimed that the police had registered a fabricated case against his client. He argued that there was no evidence of Abbasi’s involvement in the murder. “No witness came forward when the police conducted an identification parade,” the lawyer said while requesting the court to acquit his client.

The bench issued a notice to the state in response to the argument and adjourned the case till the next hearing, for which a date will be fixed by the IHC registrar later.

Bhatti was gunned down on March 2, 2011 in Islamabad as he was driving to work from his mother’s house. Bhatti had been a vocal critic of the blasphemy laws and had been receiving death threats since 2009, ever since he spoke out against the Gojra riots which took place the same year. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan had claimed responsibility for his murder.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2015.