High court adjourns appeals in Mir Murtaza Bhutto case

Appeals filed by widows of Bhutto and Ashique Ali Jatoi.

KARACHI: An appellate bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC) adjourned, on Monday, the hearing of two appeals, one filed by the state and the other filed by the widows of Mir Murtaza Bhutto and Ashique Ali Jatoi.

The counsel for the appeal find by the widows of Bhutto and Jatoi was absent when the appeals came up for hearing. The bench, comprising Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Imam Bux Baloch, put off the hearing indefinitely.

The state’s appeal questions the acquittal of Pakistan Peoples Party-Shaheed Bhutto (PPP-SB) activists who were charged with attacking a police party and injuring an ASP and an inspector in an encounter which led to the killing of Mir Murtaza Bhutto and seven of his men.

The second appeal was filed by the widows of Mir Murtaza Bhutto and Ashique Ali Jatoi through their servant who was accompanying Mir Murtaza Bhutto on September 20, 1986 when the police signalled the PPP-SB chairman and his workers to stop just a few paces from 70 Clifton.

In an alleged shoot-out with the police, Mir Murtaza Bhutto, PPP-SB vice president Ashique Jatoi and six workers were gunned down.

ASP Saddar Shahid Hayat and inspector Haq Nawaz Sial, who held those posts at that time, sustained injuries that were later declared self-inflicted.

More than two dozen officers along with Asif Ali Zardari and the then Intelligence Bureau chief Masood Sharif faced trial in the case.

Zardari was acquitted of the charges. Police officials, including the then DIG Shoaib Suddle, then SSP now ADIG Wajid Ali Durrani, were tried and acquitted by a sessions court about six months ago.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2010.