Amid heavy security and law enforcement cover, six Rangers officials and one civilian involved in the infamous murder of an unarmed young man in Karachi, Sarfraz Shah, were presented before the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC)-1 on Wednesday. But proceedings could not achieve much as the Rangers officials came to court without any legal representation. Sub-Inspector Bahadur Rehman, Lance Naik Liaquat Ali, Sepoy Muhammad Tariq, van driver Manthar Ali, Shahid Zafar, Afzal Khan and an employee of the city government’s park department, Afsar Khan, were produced before ATC-1 judge, Bashir Ahmed Khoso.
While Advocate Nahmatullah Randawa appeared before the court on behalf of one of the accused, Muhammad Tariq, the other accused requested the court to grant them more time to hire defence lawyers. The court rejected their request on the basis that no such request can be granted which cause a delay in proceedings, and said that hearing will continue on a daily basis as per the directives of the Supreme Court. The accused were directed to hire lawyers within two days, or else the court itself would provide them with defence lawyers. The accused, though, were provided copies of recorded statements of witnesses and all relevant case papers.
Charges will be framed against all seven today (Thursday) if all accused manage to hire lawyers before proceedings begin. Earlier, the head of the investigation and special public prosecutor-general had submitted a charge-sheet against the suspects before the administrative judge of the Sindh High Court’s ATC. This was subsequently approved, and the case was shifted to ATC-1 for trial. The accused were booked on charges of killing Sarfraz Ahmed inside Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Park on June 8. Officials had initially claimed that a dacoit was killed in an encounter and had lodged a criminal case against him at the Boat Basin police station, but later the same day, news channels aired footage of actually happened.
ATC refuses ‘lawyer-less’ Rangers’ plea to delay hearing
