Till further orders: Saulat Mirza’s execution put off

Federal, Sindh governments in talks with legal experts over recent revelations

ISLAMABAD: Saulat Mirza’s execution has been put off “until further orders” instead of only 72 hours as initially announced by the government, interior ministry officials said on Friday.

The notorious killer convicted for murdering then Karachi Electric Supply Company chief in 1997 was due to be hanged on March 19 but hours before his scheduled execution a video containing explosive confessions was telecast on television. Soon after, the government put off the hanging for 72 hours.

“Intelligence agencies believe Saulat can be helpful to trace out more criminals in Karachi. That is why his execution has been put on hold,” a senior official requesting anonymity told The Express Tribune. “The government is in process of gathering more information through Saulat Mirza and his companions.”

The official added that the federal and Sindh governments were in talks with legal experts over Mirza’s recent revelations and Mirza might also be asked to record his statement in front of a magistrate.

However, senior lawyer Ali Zafar said the case of Mirza could not be re-examined until a new law was introduced to deal with such cases. “A death row prisoner who has consumed all legal options is to be hanged at all costs until the president grants him amnesty,” he said. “There is no remedy to stop such executions.”

He added if the government wanted to re-examine the cases of condemned prisoners, then it would have to bring laws as were once introduced by the British government decades ago.

The Sindh government has, meanwhile, requested the interior ministry to put all names mentioned in the confessional video of Mirza on the Exit Control List (ECL), as the police want to question them, according to a request sent to the ministry.

Shafqat Hussain case

In the other execution case put off, the government is likely to form a medical board to determine the exact age of condemned prisoner Shafqat Hussain, who was to be hanged on March 19.

The execution was stayed after the interior minister wrote to the president requesting him to put off the hanging temporarily for the possible re-examination, after consultation with law experts, of the convict’s age.

 

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