Murtaza Bhutto

GHINWA TO MOVE SHC TO GET CASE
REGISTERED
KARACHI, Sept 25, 1996: The widows of Mir Murtaza Bhutto and Ashiq
Jatoi, who died in an alleged shoot-out with the police on Sept 20, will file a
constitutional petition in the Sindh High Court on Thursday to have murder
cases registered against the police. In related development, the provincial
government announced a three-member inquiry tribunal consisting of the
judges of the SHC to investigate shooting outside the 70-Clifton residence of
the Bhuttos. They are Justice Ali Muhammad Baloch (president), and Justice
Amanullah Abbasi and Justice Dr Ghous Muhammad as (members). In their
eight-page petition, both Ghinwa Bhutto and Badrunnisa, sister of former
caretaker prime minister Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, rejected an FIR registered by
the police allegedly on behalf of Mir Murtaza's injured driver, Asghar Ali,
who was arrested after the shooting. They have requested that a murder cases
be registered against the police, and described the murder of eight people,
including their husbands, as "premeditated, in cold-blood and a targeted
killing." Nizam Baloch, who drafted the constitutional petition with Mujib
Pirzada, described the registration of an FIR by the police on Tuesday as a
mockery of law. "How could the police register a case on behalf of an arrested
driver? It is not understandable. We don't know in what circumstances the
FIR was registered." Without disclosing the contents of the petition, Mr
Baloch said it also contained the draft of an FIR proposed by Mir Murtaza's
family. A copy the FIR was registered by the police on the complaint of Mir
Murtaza's driver, and obtained by Dawn, showed that the police registered a
case of accidental killing and attempt to murder under sections 319 and 324 of
Qisas and Diyet Ordinance. After going through the contents of the "Asghar
Ali FIR" it is amazing as to how ASI Mohammad Siddiq of Clifton police
station, who registered the FIR, came to the conclusion that it was an
accidental killing. The FIR which gives a sketchy account of the events,
however, carries one crucial remark by Asghar Ali. It says: "I believe that the
police overstepped their powers and killed Mir Sahib and other companions
and injured me and others. Justice should be done."
This brief statement in the FIR in which Asghar Ali, who Mir Murtaza's
lawyers feel was forced to lodge the FIR under duress, directly accuses the
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