Mureed Abbas' wife wants SHC to transfer murder case to ATC

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday issued notices to the prosecutor general and other respondents to submit their comments on a petition moved by slain anchorperson Mureed Abbas’ wife.

A division bench of the SHC directed the respondents, including murder suspect Atif Zaman, to come up with comments by Oct 24.

Zara Abbas moved the petition challenging an anti-terrorism court’s Sept 30 verdict of dropping terrorism charges in the high-profile murder case of her husband and his friend Khizar Hayat in the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) on July 9.

The ATC had earlier on Sept 30 dropped terrorism charges in the double murder case and sent the case back to a sessions court to conduct trial of key suspect Atif Zaman on charges of killing his two business partners.

She contended in her petition that the suspect had shot dead her husband in his office and then Khizar Hayat on the street of the post locality. She said the police had declared the double murders an act of terrorism and thus incorporated terrorism charges in the case, which mandated trial by an ATC.

However, the petitioner said that the ATC in utter disregard for the facts dropped terrorism charges and sent the case back to a session court.

Her lawyer said the incident triggered a sense of fear among netizens, which fell within the ambit of terrorism laws. He pleaded the court to order transfer of the case to an anti-terrorism court.