Azam Tariq murder case: IHC dismisses appeal against scholar

Witnesses claim Allama Naqvi is one of the plotters.

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court dismissed on Tuesday an appeal filed against Shia scholar Allama Sajid Ali Naqvi in Maulana Azam Tariq’s murder case.

“There is no substance in the evidence and the counsel is relying upon presumptions; therefore, the appeal is dismissed,” stated the two-member bench of Justices Noorul Haq Qureshi and Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui after hearing the appeal of Maulana Muhammad Alam Tariq against the verdict of a Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court (ATC).

The bench ordered issuing notices to the two main suspects, Muhammad Ali and Mudassir Ali, who have already been acquitted by the ATC. Maulana Azam Tariq and four of his bodyguards were shot dead in their car in Islamabad on October 6, 2003.

Petitioners’ counsel Basharatullah Khan said two witnesses from Jhang had said in their statements that the plan to murder Maulana Tariq was hatched by Allama Naqvi, former MNA Amanullah Sial and some other people at the residence of former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed.

It was revealed during cross-examination that the witnesses had arrived at Qazi Ahmed’s residence at around 11:30am, but the meeting had been conducted at around 9pm, said the bench.

The court observed that it was not possible that such a sensitive conspiracy was hatched in such a public place and especially before the two witnesses. It seems completely unnatural, said the bench.

Subsequently, the court dismissed the appeal against Allama Naqvi. The plea to call the main accused was allowed and notices were issued in this regard.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 18^th, 2015.