ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan conducted a hearing on Shahzeb Khan murder case, which is being re-examined after the civil society filed a petition against the Sindh High Court’s judgement.
In November last year, the SHC had set aside death sentences awarded by the ATC to Shahrukh Jatoi and Siraj Talpur. The suspects were then released on bail after Shahzeb’s family pardoned them.
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Saqib Nisar headed the three-judge bench, which also consists of Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and Justice Maqbool Baqar, to review a petition presented by civil society activists against SHC decision in December last year.
During the hearing, Justice Nisar remarked that it is yet to be seen whether the case falls in the category of terrorism or not. He further stated that the SHC judgement did not consider decisions of ATC and the SC pertaining the case.
Justice Khosa also remarked that the SHC by-passed orders of the apex court while making their judgement.
Jatoi and the other suspects were present during the hearing, which will resume on Thursday.
Civil society activists approach SC
On December 27 last year, ten civil society activists, including Muhammad Jibran Nasir, Jamshed Raza Mahmood, Afiya Shehrbano Zia, Naeem Sadiq, Nazim Fida Hussain Haji, Zulfiqar Shah, Aquila Ismail, Fahim Zaman Khan and Naziha Syed Ali, filed a criminal petition in the Supreme Court Karachi registry challenging the SHC ruling which stated that the murder case does not fall within the jurisdiction of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.
In their petition, the civil society members have stated that they have the legal standing to file the petition for leave to appeal as they are citizens of Karachi and reside in the same locality – Defence Housing Authority – where the murder took place.
They have stated in the petition that the incident was not just of an individual nature, but carried serious repercussions for the society at large.