SHC orders trial court to decide Khalid Mehmood Soomro murder case in six months

SUKKUR: Sindh High Court’s Sukkur bench on Thursday ordered the anti-terrorism court (ATC) concerned to conclude Khalid Mehmood Soomro murder trial and announce the decision within six months, ARY News reported.

The SHC bench rejected the bail pleas of two accused Muhammad Hanif Bhutto and Mushtaq Mahar.

Khalid Mehmood Soomro who was the Sindh secretary general of the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam–Fazl (JUI-F) was murdered in a gun attack on Nov 29, 2014 in Sukkur.

Two suspected killers had filed bail petitions in Sukkur bench of the high court.

The ATC didn’t conclude the trial neither granting bail to the accused even after more than one year to the case, the counsel of accused told the court.

The bench after hearing arguments of the counsels directed the ATC Sukkur to announce verdict of the trial within six months.

The murder trial being heard by an anti-terrorism court for last more than four years.

Senior JUI-F leader Khalid Mehmood Soomro was shot dead in Sukkur on Nov 29, 2014. The early morning attack took place when Soomro, who was the secretary general for the Sindh chapter of the JUI-F, was leaving a mosque attached to a madrassah in Sukkur after offering Fajr prayers.

Armed men entered the area and opened fire at him. Soomro was in Sukkur to participate in a conference when the attack took place in the Khosa Goth area.

Khalid Mehmood Soomro, hailed from Sindh’s Larkana region, also represented his party in the Senate from 2006-2012.