HYDERABAD, April 22: The seventh additional district judge, Syed Qurban Ali Shah Lakhiyari, on Monday acquitted 11 Muttahida Quami Movement leaders and activists including the former Sindh governor and two former MPAs in the Mir Garden case after seven years of prosecution utterly failed to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

Three people were killed including a girl while two police constables, Ghulam Rasool and Fazalullah, were injured in the city in scattered incidents of violence that followed forcible taking over of possession of the plot.

The city had remained completely closed for ten days as strike was observed during the second PPP regime.

The orders to secure the possession and seal the Khidmat-e-Khalq Foundation were passed by the then chief minister, Syed Abdullah Shah.

Those exonerated included former Sindh Governor and Speaker Sindh Assembly, Nawab Mirza, former MPAs, Salahuddin and Zafar Rajput, Aqeel Khanzada, Abdul Mujeeb Qureshi, Ashraf alias Munna, Dr. Majid, M. Sabir, Majeed Councillor, Qamaruddin, and M. Habib.

The case against the absconding accused including Abdul Majeed, late Dr Amir Jaffery, Shuja, Adeel Zaidi, former MPA Maqbool Qureshi, and Alam Khanzada, was still pending.

The case was lodged against MQM leaders and workers on April 24, 1995 when a heavy contingent of police sealed the Mir Garden plot where the office and dispensary of the MQM’s Khidmat-e-Khalq Committee was located.

Sub-inspector Ayub Durrani had registered the case through wireless.

He said that when the SDM and the DSP asked the MQM leaders to hand over the possession, it instigated the crowd of around 150 people to pick up arms, offer resistance, and teach a lesson to the police and civil administration officials. It followed stone pelting and also resorted to firing, hitting police constables, Fazalullah and Ghulam Rasool. The police also resorted to tear gas shelling and firing in self-defence under orders from the SDM, City.

In his statement, the SHO, Durrani, repeated the text of the FIR, lodged by him. He added that since there was a mob he could not say with authority from whose weapon the two constables had received injuries. The Mukhtiarkar, Syed Khair M. Shah also testified that the office was sealed by the SDM, Kazmi.

He also failed to identify the accused present in the court saying that there was a crowd of more than 400 people and a long time had passed since then.

The court said that the prosecution failed to prove the cause beyond any reasonable shadow of doubt.

The court gave the benefit of doubt to the accused under section 265(h)(i).