Question of age: IHC throws out Shafqat’s petition

Says such petitions and the undeserved hype they get might erode confidence in justice system

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) dismissed on Monday a petition calling for the formation of a judicial commission to determine the age of death-row convict Shafqat Hussain on grounds that it was not maintainable.

“Nothing has been placed before this court which would indicate any miscarriage of justice or a need for a probe,” stated Justice Athar Minallah of the IHC.

“Conjectures, surmises, unsubstantiated assertions, assumptions without any cogent or material record, cannot vest jurisdiction in this court to exercise its powers under Article 199 of the Constitution,” he added.

The court had constantly been directing the petitioner to present any precedent from across the globe where a case was reopened after it was decided by the country’s highest court.

“Such litigation falls within the realm of being frivolous. It (is) tantamount to abuse of the process of the court,” Justice Minallah stated.

Most importantly, such petitions and the undeserved hype they get without first verifying the facts and examining the record, are likely to be seen as being aimed at eroding public confidence in the criminal justice system, he remarked.

Shafqat was arrested and sentenced to death in 2004 for kidnapping and killing a seven-year-old boy from an apartment building in Karachi where he was working as a guard.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2015.