More witnesses to record statements on November 21

An anti-terrorism court heard on Monday the argument of the counsel for detained Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) activist Muhammad Minhaj Qazi alias Asad on the legal role of a judicial magistrate who had recorded the confessional statement of the accused in the Shahid Hamid murder case.  

As the attorney completed his arguments, the court adjourned the hearing till November 21 when it would record the statements of other witnesses in the case.

The judicial magistrate had recorded Qazi’s statement regarding the recovery of illegal arms from his possession. The case of the possession of illegal arms was registered against Qazi at the Nabi Bakhsh police station.

A charge sheet presented against Qazi before the court for the murder of the then then Karachi Electric Supply Corporation managing director Shahid Hamid had also nominated MQM chief Altaf Hussain and another senior leader Nadeem Nusrat as accused.

Investigation officer Sarwar Commando presented the charge sheet.

According to the charge sheet, Qazi had claimed that Hamid was killed on the directives of the MQM chief and Nusrat.

The then KESC managing director, his driver and a guard were killed on July 5, 1997 in the Defence Housing Authority. An MQM worker, Saulat Ali Khan alias Saulat Mirza, has already been hanged in this murder case. Mirza was awarded capital punishment by an anti-terrorism court in 1999 and he was finally hanged on May 12, 2015 at the Machh jail in Balochistan.

According to the prosecution, the then SHO of Gulbahar police station, Mohammad Aslam Khan known as Chaudhry Aslam, had arrested Saulat Mirza in December 1998 at Karachi airport. During investigation, Mirza had confessed to killing Hamid and named his accomplices.

The prosecution alleged that the offence was carried out to avenge the removal of MQM supporters from the KESC by the then managing director.

Qazi was produced before a judicial magistrate on May 14, where Hamid’s son and his widow both identified him at an identification parade as one of the shooters involved in the murder.