SHC dismisses plea for reinvestigation

Saulat Mirza’s wife sought to delay his execution till the completion of a fresh investigation

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) ruled on Friday that there was ‘no cogent reason’ to reinvestigate the murder of then Karachi Electric Supply Company managing director Shahid Hamid, for which notorious Muttahida Qaumi Movement target killer Saulat Ali Khan, better known as Saulat Mirza, is scheduled to be hanged on May 12.

A division bench, comprising justices Naimatullah Phulpoto and Shaukat Ali Memon, passed this ruling while dismissing a petition by the death convict’s wife, Nighat Jaffar Malik, who had sought to delay his execution till the completion of a fresh investigation against those whom he had accused in a video statement in March. Malik argued that Mirza had revealed the names of those responsible for the murder in his video statement recorded in Mach jail. A joint investigation team had also been constituted, she added.

She insisted that her husband’s statement would be material for the prosecution at the trial of the co-accused. Therefore, she pleaded the court that, after the arrest of the real culprits, a fresh trial may be ordered and Mirza’s execution be postponed. On Thursday, the court had issued notices to the home department, the prison authorities, the advocate-general and the prosecutor-general to file their replies, explaining whether a re-trial could be initiated and the hanging delayed.

After hearing out Malik, the advocate-general and the state counsel, the two judges observed that Mirza was convicted under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code, read with Section 7(1)(a) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, and was sentenced to death on three counts of murder on May 24, 1999. They added that the convict had appealed against his conviction and was dismissed. Later, he challenged the SHC’s judgment before the Supreme Court but his death sentence was maintained. Thereafter, he filed a criminal review petition, which was also dismissed.

“All the legal remedies available to him have already been exhausted,” noted the judges, adding that the Supreme Court’s decision was binding upon the SHC. “There is no cogent ground for reinvestigation or fresh trial.”

Seeking a pardon

Mirza’s wife Nighat Jaffar Malik filed a handwritten application requesting the SHC postpone the execution to enable her to approach Shahid Hamid’s family to seek a pardon and reach a compromise with them. Court officials said, however, that her application was returned as there was no rationality in entertaining it.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 9^th, 2015.