Notices to Mustafa Kanju, guards in Zain murder case

LAHORE

A division bench of the Lahore High Court again issued notices to Mustafa Kanju, the son of former State Minister for Foreign Affairs Siddique Kanju, and his guards on charges of murdering a 9th class orphan Zain Rauf (13).

Earlier on December 30, the bench had admitted for regular hearing the government appeal against acquittal of Mustafa Kanju and had issued notices to Mustafa and his accomplices. During the hearing on Tuesday, the accused or their counsels did not appear. The prosecution requested to initiate ex-parte proceedings against the accused persons.

Bench remarked that after service of notice and accused did not appear, the court would take action in accordance with the law. The Punjab government had challenged the acquittal of Mustafa Kanju and others. Appellate counsel, Punjab Prosecutor General Ehtesham Qadir Shah (AGP) had said that the anti-terrorism court (ATC) acquitted him in a haste without appreciating the facts of the case. He had said that the ATC also did not record statements of police witnesses’ for recovering a kalashnikov from the accused.

He also said that the anti-terrorism court did not let the prosecutor cross examine the complainant and in such a situation, the accused could have not been acquitted without fulfilling the due process of the law.

He said the trial court acquitted the accused only because prosecution witnesses retracted. An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on October 27 had acquitted Mustafa and others as all 14 witnesses, including complainant Suhail Afzal, an uncle of Zain Rauf deviated from their initial statements. The witnesses had refused to identify Mustafa Kanju, who was the main accused in the case. The appeal filed by Punjab prosecution department submitting that the trial court accepted acquittal application of the suspect premature, as there were many witnesses to be testified.

He said that besides the witnesses, the evidence collected from the crime scene was enough to prove the murder charge.

He said that the trial court relied upon the retracted statements of the witnesses only and ignored facts of the case as the empties collected from the scene were matched with the Kalashnikov recovered from Mustafa. He requested to set aside the order of the trial court for being flawed.

According to prosecution, Kanju was allegedly drunk when his car bearing number plate LWK-77 hit another car driven by a woman.

Kanju got infuriated and opened fire, the woman had fled the scene. Due to Kanju firing, Zain, 17, a resident of Street 11 of Cavalry Ground and his friend Hasnain, who were passing by the road, fell victim to the firing.

They were rushed to Services Hospital where Zain died. The Gulberg police had booked Kanju and his guards Asif, Said, Saadullah and Akram under 7-ATA and Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

appointed: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday appointed Supreme Court Bar Association’s president Syed Ali Zafar as amicus curie in a contempt of court case against Federal Ombudsperson for Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace Yasmeen Abbasi.

Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah had issued contempt notice to the ombudsperson for not appearing before the court despite issuance of her arrest warrants. The case is fixed for January 20 (today). 

On previous hearing, the judge had sought explanation from federal law secretary and SSP Islamabad for their failure to produce the ombudsperson before the court.

suspended: Punjab Bar Council (PbBC) has decided to suspend practicing licences of 1,400 ghost lawyers after the council found no record of their enrolment.

The bar’s member Munir Bhatti disclosed this at a press conference held on Tuesday.

He was also chairman of a special committee tasked to scrutinise bogus lawyers in the province. Advocate Bhatti said the committee pointed out 1,400 advocates whose record was not available with the bar.

He said licences of these lawyers had been suspended in first phase of action and show cause notices issued to them too.

The suspended advocate could get his licence restored on production of valid documents, he added.

Advocate Bhatti said that strict action would also be taken against officials of the bar management involved in issuing bogus licences to the advocates. He said that FIRs would also be registered against fake lawyers.