Hamza Ahmed, a 17-year-old student, was gunned down allegedly by a security guard of another teenager, Shoaib Naveed. PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court indicted Shoaib Naveed on Saturday in the two-and-half-year-old murder case of his class fellow, Hamza Ahmed.
ATC-III judge Saleem Raza Baloch read out the charges against Naveed, a businessman's teenage son, his driver Mushtaq and security official, Muhammad Idrees, for allegedly abetting and harbouring the alleged shooter and the security guard, Ammal Rehman.
Seventeen-year-old Ahmed was allegedly gunned down by Naveed's security guard, Rehman, after they got into a heated argument outside a restaurant in Defence on April 27, 2013. A case was registered under Sections 302 (punishment for premeditated murder), 109 (abetment) 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code, read with Section 7 of the Anti-terrorism Act 1997 at the Darakhshan police station.
Hamza Ahmed’s murder: ‘We want justice, not revenge’
The police had already declared Naveed, Idrees and Mushtaq for 'harbouring offenders' in the investigation report submitted before the court, adding that they were unable to determine the role of Naveed's father in the case. All of them were earlier released on bail.
The judge read out the charges on Saturday, which the suspects denied and decided to contest. On their denial, the court summoned the witnesses on November 21 to record their testimonies in favour or against the suspects.
Rising intolerance
Human rights activists see Ahmed's murder as yet another example of growing intolerance among children belonging to rich families. Three murder trials, including this one, involving wealthy teenagers have been reported from Defence in recent years.
ATC accepts re-investigation report in Hamza Ahmed murder case
In the first case, a police deputy superintendent's 20-year-old son, Shahzeb Khan, was shot dead by Shahrukh Jatoi and others in December 2012 over a petty dispute of teasing the sister of the deceased. Treating him as an adult after the negative ossification test, the ATC awarded death sentence to Jatoi, while co-accused Nawab Siraj Talpur and Ghulam Murtaza Lashari were given life imprisonment in June 2013.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 1st, 2015.
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