ISLAMABAD: Even as the government scrambled to decide what would become of death row prisoner Saulat Mirza, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif declared on Friday that the operation in Karachi was launched with the consensus of all political parties and would continue until the city is crime-free.

The government is considering to suspend Mirza’s execution for 90 days, days after it was deferred by Presi­dent Mamnoon Hussain. The deferral came in the wake of the release of a video confession by the condemned man, where he made sensational claims about the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) role in target killings and other violent crimes.

“The government is considering a 90-day suspension of Saulat Mirza’s execution because 72 hours are not enough time to investigate the matter at hand. If his statement and cooperation are required to investigate further, he must be given more time,” Ashtar Ausaf Ali, the PM’s Special Assis­tant on Law, told Dawn on Friday.

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He said that whatever decision was taken by the government would be made in consultation with the Sindh government because law and order was a provincial subject.

Friday was a busy day for the PM, who met President Mamnoon Hussain at the Presidency, ostensibly to discuss the ongoing operation against terrorists and outlaws in Karachi, as well as the Saulat Mirza issue. “The one-to-one meeting between the two leaders lasted over an hour,” the president’s spokesman told Dawn.

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While the presidency’s press office issued a photograph of the meeting, it did not release an official handout and avoided sharing the content of the discussion with the media. Sources told Dawn that the president had asked officials not to share details of the discussion with anyone.

Karachi operation

Separately, at a ceremony held to showcase the National Aviation Policy 2015, the PM said that he was going to Karachi to personally supervise the operation to restore peace to the country’s economic hub.

“We are trying to set things right in Karachi and all necessary resources will be provided for this purpose,” he said, adding that the crime rate in the city had declined ever since the operation was launched.

The PM said that kidnapping-for-ransom and target killings were on the rise in Karachi in 2013 and every political party had asked the government to launch an operation against criminal elements in the city.

Saulat may get 90-day reprieve as govt investigates fresh claims

The PML-N has already owned the ongoing action in Karachi. “The government owns the operation in Karachi and indiscriminate action would be taken to establish peace in the city and apprehend criminals,” Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid had said a couple of days ago.

The information minister, who is also the government’s chief spokesperson, had said that law-enforcement agencies, including Rangers, had no role in politics and they had been acting in accordance with the unanimous decisions of the democratically-elected government.

90-day reprieve

Sources in the law ministry, meanwhile, told Dawn that a high-level meeting held on Friday had considered suspending Saulat Mirza’s execution for 90 days so that a proper investigation could be carried out into the allegations levelled by the death row convict.

The president had deferred his scheduled execution mere hours before he was to be hanged on Thursday morning and the 72-hour relaxation ends on Saturday.

Sources said the law ministry was drawing up a summary to postpone Mirza’s execution and following the PM’s approval, the summary will be sent to the president for a final nod.

It is expected that the convict will soon be presented before a judicial magistrate to record his statement.

In addition, sources indicated that a cell has been formed in the interior ministry to look into the Saulat Mirza case. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan is said to be monitoring the situation personally. The cell was also alluded to in earlier reports that a number of MQM leaders’ names had been placed on the exit-control list. According to sources in the ministry, the cell recommended nine names for inclusion in the ECL, but this information could not be independently verified.

Published in Dawn March 21st , 2015

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