Govt offers to expand probe team: Abdullah Murad's murder
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, April 22: The Sindh government on Thursday asked the opposition to name any government functionary of their trust who could be included in the investigating team carrying out a probe into the murder of PPP MPA Abdullah Murad.
The government made this offer in response to an accusation by the leader of the opposition, Nisar Ahmed Khuhro. Mr Khuhro stated that despite the fact that one-and-half months have elapsed, the government had done nothing to track down the killers.
Mr Khuhro further stated that attempts were being made to protect some people involved in the case. Abdullah Murad's children, father and brothers are dissatisfied at the progress in the case, he said.
Closing the discussion on his adjournment motion, Mr Khuhro recalled the case and subsequent prior to the assassination of MPA Abdullah Murad. He said for the last three days, heirs of Abdullah Murad, including an eyewitness, Nawab Baloch, have failed to get their FIR registered.
He said when a police station was attacked in Gulistan-i-Jauhar, those involved in the attack were arrested, but the killers of an elected representative have not yet been arrested.
What more the government has done to nab the killers, except for ordering a judicial inquiry and announcing one million rupees award during one-and-a-half months, while the law and order situation has further deteriorated, he remarked.
"We have read in newspapers that weapons were recovered from a minister's car. "Even a 20-day-long debate on the issue in which 80 members participated, could not solve the issue as someone wants to protect someone."
The failure of the government to do anything to nab and expose the killers of Abdullah Murad in one-and-a-half a moths was a condemnable act, he said. He recalled the event in which two innocent girls - Sassi and Hajira - were murdered in Malir.
On a protest by Abdullah Murad and his colleagues over negligence of the police, a case was registered against the police and later some policemen were arrested and after a few days, Abdullah Murad was murdered, Mr Khuhro pointed out.
On that day, he said, a strike was being observed on the call of the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mohaz against construction of greater Thal Canal and Kalabagh Dam, and the police reached the spot after half an hour.
This delay, he said, was certainly a matter to be investigated as an amount of Rs 10 billion was given to police and other agencies for their modernization and purchase of equipment. Winding up the debate from the treasury benches, Sindh education minister Irfanullah Marwat urged the opposition not to politicize the murder of Mr Murad.
He informed the house that so far 55 persons had been questioned in connection with the murder. Had the government not been serious, technical objections could have been raised on the application of requisitioning of the session which was submitted just after four hours of the tragedy.
In the murder case of Sassi and Hajra when Makhdoom Jamil-uz-Zaman referred different names, Sanaullah Abbasi was made the investigation officer, he said. He said that even now if opposition proposes any other name, they were prepared to appoint him in the investigation team conducting the probe into murder of Abdullah Murad who was not only a respectable member of the house, but his old friend also.
Saying that accusing others was not advisable, he pointed out that the leader of the opposition had talked about high profile murders. "We have not set this tradition of high profile murders.
Perhaps the leader of the opposition has forgotten the murder of the brother of prime minister Benazir Bhutto and chief minister Abdullah Shah. No government would like to set such a tradition", he added.
He said when Sassi and Hajira were killed, there was an uproar over involvement of police, but now opposition leader had conceded that the police personnel were not involved in the tragedy. Mr Marwat was on his feet when the speaker called it a day.
