An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Friday reserved judgment on transferring the Sarfraz Shah murder case to regular court until July 2 (today).
ATC-I Judge Bashir Ahmed Khoso reserved the judgment after hearing the arguments of both parties.
The accused men’s counsels – Naimat Ali Randhawa Advocate, Shaukat Hussain and MR Syed – argued that this is not a terrorism case and it does not fall under the purview of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) of 1997.
The counsels filed applications seeking transfer of the case to regular court, submitting that the special court of the ATC had no jurisdiction to try the case as the facts and circumstances disclosed in the First Information Report (FIR) showed that it was not an act of terrorism.
The defence lawyers further argued that the accused men were personnel of a paramilitary force and that they were on their lawful duty, so there was no object of creating terror, fear or insecurity.
They submitted that Shah along with some accomplices was attempting to rob a family at the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Park where he was shot.
After robbing the family, they were trying to escape, but Shah was caught by passers-by who handed him over to personnel of the Pakistan Rangers-Sindh, whereas his accomplices managed to escape.
When Shah was asked to sit down, he resisted and failed to comply with the Rangers’ instructions as well as held on to the gun of a Rangers sepoy who believed that Shah was trying to snatch it from him.
On Friday, Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Muhammad Khan Buriro opposed the defence’s arguments, saying that the Rangers personnel have no powers to shoot people unless they face armed resistance.
He said that the entire nation has watched the video footage of the incident through private television channels, and that it was a brutal act performed by Rangers personnel. Shah was innocent and had no criminal record, he added.
Following the incident, a case was registered against Shah by the police, but it was later dismissed as Shah was found innocent.
The SPP maintained that a five-member bench headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) has already given judgment in this regard, and according to the Constitution, the courts are bound to obey with the CJP’s decisions.
Sub-Inspector Bahaur Rehman; Lance Naik Liaquat Ali; constables Muhammad Tariq, Minthar Ali, Shahid Zafar and Afzal Khan; and private contractor Afsar Khan have been charged with killing Shah on June 8 at the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Park in Clifton.
According to the prosecution, the deceased was victim of an extrajudicial killing by personnel of the paramilitary force in a public park after he was handed over to them by the private contractor, accusing him of committing theft.
However, television footage of Shah’s killing showed that the Rangers personnel shot the unarmed victim twice and after seriously injuring him, watched him bleed to death, instead of shifting him to the hospital.
The case has been registered against the accused men at the Boat Basin police station under Sections 302, 34 and 36 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) read with Section 7 of the ATA.
Consequently, FIR No 227/2011 under Sections 302 and 34 of the PPC was lodged against the Rangers personnel visible in the video footage at the same police station on the complaint of the Sarfaraz Shah’s brother Salik Shah, a reporter for a local news channel. Later, Section 7 of the ATA-1997 was also incorporated in the FIR.
