All the senior and junior police officials and others were acquitted of the charge of murdering Mir Murtaza Bhutto, Ashique Hussain Jatoi and six other workers and supporters of PPP-Shaheed Bhutto group, here on Saturday by Additional District and Sessions Judge, East, Aftab Ahmed.
Announcing the judgement, the court, in its short order, told the accused that they had been acquitted of multiple murder charges as no evidence was found against them. The acquitted accused included the then Deputy Inspector General of Karachi Dr Shoaib Suddle, Senior Superintendent of Police Wajid Ali Durrani, former Intelligence Bureau chief Masood Sharif, then ASPs Rai Tahir and Shahid Hayat, Inspector Agha Jamil, SI Abdul Basit and 11 other low ranking police officials, who were present on duty at the place of incident on September 20, 1996, a few paces away from 70 Clifton, the residence of Bhutto's.
The FIR in the instant case was lodged after High Court of Sindh (SHC) ordered that the FIR be registered as per version of the widow of the victims. The case trial took 13 long years to be completed since 1996 during which over half a dozen judges were changed.
The court proceeded speedily after the Supreme Court, on an application by AIG Shahid Hayat, ordered conclusion of trial within four months. Mir Murtaza Bhutto, chief of his own faction of PPP Shaheed Bhutto group, and seven other workers and supporters of PPP-SB were killed in an alleged shootout with police in which two police officers sustained self-inflicted injuries. Umer Sial, advocate, counsel for complainant Noor Muhammad, said the decision to go in an appeal would be taken by the party in consultation with the workers.
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