ATC to hear Mirza’s plea seeking to record statement at home tomorrow

Karachi
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) will decide on a plea of Dr Zulfiqar Mirza on May 13 in which he has sought permission to record his statement at home in three cases, fearing that his life would be in danger if goes to the Jamshed Quarters police station to do so.
Advocate Ashraf Sammon, who filed the application on behalf of the former Sindh home minister, also requested that the investigation officer (IO) in the cases was not impartial and should be replaced.
He asked that the court to nominate some other police officer as IO as the current one was “biased and can be a part of some conspiracy”.
ATC-I Judge Bashir Ahmed Khoso has already granted bail to Mirza in the three cases for Rs100,000 each till May 19.
Issuing a notice to Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Muhammad Khan Buriro, the court fixed May 13 for hearing the viewpoints of the prosecutor and the defence counsel.
In his plea, Mirza said he saw a conspiracy in his being told to go the Jamshed Quarters police station for recording his statement. He said he might be targeted and killed if he went to record his statement at the police station.
When contacted, SPP Buriro told that he had come to know about the application and the issuance of a notice to him for tendering his arguments on May 13. However, he said the notice was issued late and he did not receive on Monday. He said he would collect the notice from the ATC-I today.
Replying to a question, Buriro said that Inspector Syed Zulqarnain was the IO in two cases.
Mirza is facing charges of attempting murder, threatening government officials and ransacking their offices and creating a law and order situation in Badin.
These cases have been registered under sections 324, 395 H, 427, 506, 149, 148, 147 of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.
The complainants include Badin Additional SHO Wali Muhammad Chandio, Haj Muhammad and Imtiaz Ali.
Those booked under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act that deals with terrorist activities are not usually granted bail. But the law empowers presiding officers to exercise their special powers to grant protective or interim bail to any accused.
The special public prosecutor argued that Mirza did not deserve to be granted bail as he was involved in the ransacking of a police station in the Badin district and had also tried to create a law and order situation.