QUETTA – Former Supreme Court Bar Association president and senior lawyer Ali Ahmad Kurd on Friday stated that there would have been no extra-judicial murders in Balochistan had Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry taken suo motu notice of the murder of former Balochistan governor Nawab Akbar Bugti, a prominent Baloch leader.
Addressing a reception in honour of newsmen at the Balochistan High Court Bar room, Kurd said that being vice-president of the Pakistan Bar Council in 2006, he had filed an appeal before Chief Justice Iftikhar praying to take suo motu notice of the uncalled for murder, but the chief justice ignored his appeal. He said as a result of the intense struggle of lawyers, the judiciary was restored and was now independent.
He said that he had raised the issue of the assassination of Nawab Bugti in his address at the start of the judicial year on September 1, 2006. Kurd said his two colleagues – Agha Zahir Shah and Munir Ahmed Mirwan – were still missing and in the custody of intelligence agencies along with hundreds of missing persons.
He said that over one hundred missing persons were killed in custody by intelligence agencies and their bullet riddled were bodies dumped callously. Hadi Shakil said two abducted lawyers were released by paying Rs 1.5 million each as ransom, adding that no sincere steps were being taken to recover their missing colleagues.
Earlier, lawyers completely boycotted court proceedings.
