The hearing for the Sarfaraz Shah murder case was adjourned until Saturday as two defence witnesses, including a colonel, could not prove their identity before the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Friday.
Col Suleman of Pakistan Rangers-Sindh, who has been named as a defence witness by accused Shahid Zafar, appeared before ATC No 1 Judge Bashir Ahmed Khoso to record his statement in the case.
He defended the accused Rangers personnel, saying that the offence was just an accident and not a deliberate attempt. The official said that the Rangers personnel were on official duty on June 8 when they were informed by a civilian that an armed man was looting a family inside the park.
On the complaint, the Rangers personnel took immediate action and entered the park wherein a civilian handed over Shah to the Rangers.
He added that the Rangers personnel tried to arrest Shah, but he tried to escape while trying to snatch a weapon from a Rangers sepoy and during the resistance, a shot was fired mistakenly.
The official said that Rangers have special powers to arrest a criminal/accused for interrogation as per a Sindh Home Department notification.
He also said that during a TV talk-show, he came to know that the cameraman of a private TV channel, Salam Soomro who had filmed the scene, had received life threats. Later, he offered to provide protection to the media men, but they refused to accept Rangers’ security.
Interestingly, the Rangers official failed to prove his identity as the prosecutor asked him to provide his official status and present his national identity card (NIC), but he did not have either of the cards.
Later, he produced his NIC and a letter of his department that proved his status before the court.
Another defence witness Alam Zaib, who had accused the deceased of robbing him and his friend, appeared before the court and stated that he is a police constable and was at the park with his friend Hina, but he could not prove his identity either. Zaib has been nominated as defence witness by another accused Manthar Ali. Zaib and Hina were talking when Shah suddenly appeared and asked them to hand over their belongings. He said that while handing him over their mobile phones, cash and other belongings, he managed to snatch Shah’s weapon and handed him over to the park employee Afsar Khan, also accused of Shah’s murder.
The accused Sub-Inspector Bahaur Rehman, Lance Naik Liaquat Ali, constables Muhammad Tariq, Manthar Ali, Shahid Zafar, Afzal Khan and Afsar Khan have been booked for killing Sarfaraz Shah at the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Park located in Clifton.
The case has been registered against the accused by the Boat Basin police under Sections 302, 34 and 36 of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
