October 05, 2006	Thursday	Ramazan 11, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 4: The Supreme Court was told on Wednesday that the main accused in the murder of elder sister of an unwed mother was former naib nazim of Okara, Abbas Raza Rizvi.

District Police Officer (DPO), Okara, Dr Usman Anwar told a two-member bench that police had arrested Imanat, who had confessed to have killed Shahnaz, the elder sister of the unwed mother Mehnaz Fatima.

The bench comprised Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi.

Imanat, also a proclaimed offender, had confessed to have killed Shahnaz at the behest of Mr. Rizvi and his driver, Ashraf, the DPO explained.

The bench was hearing a complaint of Shahnaz, who had accused Mr Rizvi of having an illicit relationship with Mehnaz when she was a student of 9th class.

On Wednesday, the bench again ordered a DNA test of Mehnaz Fatima, her daughter and Abbas Raza Rizvi from the KRL Hospital to settle the paternity claim. The court also directed submission of a report to the court on November 6. Mehnaz’s daughter Ariba is living with her grandmother in Pakpattan.

The DPO told the court that appointments had been arranged with different laboratories for DNA test to ascertain the claim of Mehnaz that Mr. Rizvi had fathered the baby girl, however, she refused to undergo test pleading that she had made it up with the ex-naib nazim.

At this, the chief justice observed that the lady should not consider the court a joke. Mehnaz told the court that she had already lost her sister and did not want to meet the same fate that’s why she had made a compromise with Mr. Rizvi.

The chief justice assured Mehnaz that the blood of her sister would not go waste adding that the matter of life and death rested with Allah Almighty.

The chief justice made it clear to Mehnaz that she would have to go for a DNA test and also admonished her for filing applications now and then to withdraw her original complaint.

“We cannot shut our eyes because the matter involves murder of a woman,” the chief justice observed. The DPO also told the court that police would arrest Mr. Rizvi, as his bail before arrest was expiring on Wednesday.

Shahnaz had accused Mr. Rizvi of inducing Mehnaz to a ‘mutta’ marriage on the promise that he would solemise marriage later on. But he ratted on his promise when she became pregnant and asked her to abort the pregnancy.

Later the accused arranged a setup by asking his employee Abdul Ghafoor to verbally marry the girl and divorce her after few months. Mehnaz was later forced to affix her signatures on a blank paper that was forged into a statement designed to benefit the ex-nazim.

Meanwhile, in a separate suo motu case, the court directed the district and sessions judge, Sheikhupura, to record the statement of Sharifan Bibi to determine whether she had willingly pardoned the murderers of her son, Nazir, who was tortured to death during police custody.

Additional Advocate General Punjab Khadim Hussain Qaiser told the bench that the mother of the deceased had entered into a compromise with the accused for Rs1 million, but when the chief justice repeatedly asked Sharifan Bibi about the money, she kept quiet. Her gestures helped the court conclude that she had struck the deal under duress.

Meanwhile, DPO Sheikhupura Muhammad Aslam Tareen told the bench that the district and sessions judge had held eight police officers guilty.

They are Inspectors Hassan Farooq, Ghulam Farid and Zahid Zaman, Assistant Sub Inspectors (ASIs) Muhammad Aslam, Saif Akbar, head constables Tanvir Ahmed and Babar Naseem and constable Asad Khan. They all are under arrest.