A vital investigation

The timing of broadcast of Mirza's video & any linkage to this with Nine-Zero raid all need to come into the open

the allegations made by Saulat MirzaA host of questions surround in the video aired on television mere hours before he was due to be hanged. Mirza is a target killer, and was convicted in 1999 on charges of murdering a former managing director of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation, Shahid Hamid, along with his driver, Ashraf Brohi, and guard Akbar Khan in July 1997 in Karachi.

This video raises certain important questions which need to be answered. The timing of the broadcast of the video, the officials who allowed Mirza video to be broadcast on TV or who gave instructions that the video should be aired on TV, and any linkage to this with the raid on Nine-Zero all need to come into the open. A summary report relating to a stay in his execution for 90 days has now been sent by the interior minister to the prime minister for his consideration. The summary advises that a Joint Investigation Team should be set up to examine the allegations that Mirza has made. While a convicted murderer many times over by his own admission can hardly be regarded as the most credible of witnesses, and there might be at least some suspicion that he may have concocted the story — the fact remains that the allegations made by Mirza are detailed and specific. Names are named, some of them very big names indeed, and the allegations are similar if not identical to allegations that have been made more covertly in the past. For that reason alone, they must be thoroughly investigated. If there is found to be any truth at all in any of what Mirza is saying, it will be a political bombshell that will explode in not just the ranks of the MQM, but other political parties as well.

The MQM has said that the confessional video carries no legal weight — that may be so but it does not completely rule it out of court. The challenge now is going to be to appoint a team to investigate the allegations and protect the team members while they do so, as there are going to be many who would rather there be no investigation of anything, and whose cooperation in any investigation is unlikely in the extreme.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 21^st, 2015.

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