After 14 years, appeal filed against acquittal in Murtaza Bhutto murder case

• An appeal as been filed in Murtaza Bhutto murder case.
• In 2009, a local court acquitted 19 suspects in the case.
• Murtaza Bhutto and six associated were shot dead in 1996.

KARACHI: After 14 years, an appeal has been filed against the acquittal of suspects in the Mir Murtaza Bhutto murder case.

The other appeal was filed by Noor Muhammad against the police officers allegedly involved in the shoot-out between the police and Murtaza Bhutto and his men, which occurred just a few paces from the ancestral residence of the Bhuttos commonly known as 70 Clifton.

Mir Murtaza Bhutto was shot dead along with his close aide Ashique Hussain Jatoi and six other workers of the PPP Shaheed Bhutto group on September 20, 1996.

Murtaza Bhutto’s employee Noor Muhammad has filed an appeal against the acquittal of the accused.  The plaintiff’s lawyer Pir Majeed, Zaheer Soomro and Sajjad Abbasi appeared in the court.

The lawyers submitted the affidavits on behalf of the plaintiff Noor Muhammad to the court. The SHC adjourned the hearing of the appeal for three weeks.

On September 20, 1996, Mir Murtaza Bhutto and his colleagues were brutally shot at on the streets, the appeal petition said. After the incident, two cases were filed against the government in the presence of Murtaza Bhutto’s employee Noor Muhammad, the plea added.

In December 2009, all 19 suspects in Murtaza Bhutto murder case were acquitted by a lower court.

Additional and Session Judge East had announced the verdict and said the decision has been taken in the light of evidence.

He said evidence shows that all the police officials nominated in the case were present at the spot but it is not clear who was involved in the murder of Murtaza Bhutto and his associates.

Murtaza Bhutto and his seven escorts were killed in an alleged police encounter on September 20, 1996. The case was registered by Noor Myhammad on May 19, 1997 at Clifton police station.

In the case, 59 witnesses and 22 suspects were nominated. Later, only 19 nominated suspects were left due to former chief minister Sindh Abdullah Shah and Zeeshan Kazmi’s deaths and Asif Zardari acquittal from the court.

The suspects included former director Intelligence Bureau Shoaib Suddle and a number of police officials, including Wajid Durrani, Haq Nawaz Sayal, Faisal Hafeez, Rai Tahir, Agha Jameel, Shabeer Ahmed Qaimkhani,  Shahid Hayat, Ghulam Mustafa, Zulfiqar Ahmed and Zafar Iabal.

The suspects were charged under section 120, 302, and 324. The same court also acquitted Murtaza Bhutto and his associates in the case.