Bail pleas of two accused rejected in Nawaz Wali murder case

The Sindh High Court’s divisional bench of Hyderabad rejected the bail pleas of two key accused persons on Monday in Nawab Wali Muhammad’s murder case pertaining to an incident in which six persons of the Bhand community and a police officer had lost their lives over a land dispute in February 2022.

Ghulam Mustafa Marri and Lutuf Ali Marri were nominated as key accused in the murder case registered at the Mirza Pur police station of District Shaheed Benazirabad after a four-day sit-in on the National Highway near Qazi Ahmed.

SHC Divisional Bench, headed by Justice Mehmood A Khan, besides dismissing the bail pleas of the accused, ordered transferring the murder case from District Shaheed Benazirabad to District Naushehro Feroze.

On February 12, 2022, six persons were murdered -- Ayaz, Mashooq, Saban, Akmal, and Sher Mohammad of the Bhand community and police inspector Hameed Khoso – in an armed attack.

The attack, blamed on tribals, was said to be motivated by a dispute between the two sides over a 390-acre piece of land in the riverine area of the Shaheed Benazirabad district. Soon after the incident, members of the Bhand community, supported by the Sindh United Party, Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party, Qaumi Awami Tehreek, Awami Tehreek, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz, and lawyers and writers, staged a sit-in blocking the highway.

PPP leaders, including former provincial law minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar and MPA Ghulam Qadir Chandio, held negotiations with the protesters, led by Khamiso Bhand and supported by the SUP’s Syed Zain Shah, in the presence of Deputy Commissioner Amir Panhwar and SSP Amir Saud Magsi. The demand of the protesters for the registration of murder cases against the nominated accused was accepted.

Two cases (FIRs 3/2022 and 4/2022) were registered under sections 302, 324, 147, 148, 149 of the PPC against 17 suspects at the Mirzapur police station. Mohsin Zardari, Abid Zardari, Shahzado Zardari, Qayoom Zardrai, Shabir Zardari, Allah Warayo Zardari were nominated as prime suspects, while Ghulam Mustafa Marri, Lutuf Marri, Mushtaq Manjhotho, Imran Rind and others were named as associates in the crime.

A jirga was also held on this matter, but the issue could not be resolved due to the non-arrest of the major accused persons. On October 9, 2023, advocate Sajjad Chandio on behalf of the complainants of the cases, Aban and Raza Muhammad Bhand, opposed the bail applications and argued that the key suspects of both murder cases were roaming free due to their association with the former ruling party of the province and police were not ready to apprehend them.