February 05, 2008	Tuesday	Muharram 26, 1429

MANSEHRA, Feb 4: The Supreme Court (SC) has taken notice of the delay in the shifting of a condemned prisoner from Karachi to Abbottabad for execution and directed the Sindh and NWFP home ministries to submit a report in this regard in one week.

The Supreme Court issued the directives on a complaint filed by Haji Mohammad Nazir, uncle of slain Ijaz alias Goga.

A letter by the SC, copy of which is available with this correspondent, expressed astonishment that the convict, Khuram Malik, could not be shifted to Abbottabad from the Central Prison Karachi for the execution despite the decision of the Ijaz murder case in 2005.

Meanwhile, Haji Nazir told Dawn that Khuram Malik had once tried to escape from the Karachi prison while detonating the inner wall with explosives. He said that due to the criminal nature of Malik, the Sindh home department had advised the police to shift him to Abbottabad by air, which cost about Rs70,000.