KARACHI, March 12: The Sindh High Court adjourned on Wednesday the hearing of a suit moved by Sanam Bhutto, daughter of the late prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, to a date in office on Thursday.

Ms Bhutto has sought an order for eviction of Ghinwa Bhutto, widow of Murtaza Bhutto, from 70-Clifton, Karachi, claiming that the property had been gifted to her by the late prime minister’s son and she had occupied it before her departure for London in the early 1990s, much before Murtaza’s assassination in 1996. Simultaneously, she has sought division of all the assets left behind by the late prime minister and issuance of letters of administration in favour of all his legal heirs in accordance with their shares under the law of succession and inheritance.

Besides Ghinwa Bhutto, Begum Nusrat Bhutto and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto have been impleaded as defendants.

As the case came up for hearing on Wednesday, Justice Zahid Kurban Alavi was informed that the defendants’ counsel, PPP’s Senator-elect Farooq H. Naek and K. M. Nadeem, were not available due to their preoccupation or indisposition and had requested adjournment.

life imprisonment: A division bench of the Sindh High Court converted on Wednesday the death penalty awarded to a murder convict to life term on account of the length of his trial (four years) and his young age (29 years) at the time of the commission of offence.

Bahadur was convicted by an anti-terrorism court at Hyderabad of killing Kaloo Khan Leghari, who was riding a motorcycle along with his son, with a country-made pistol in April 1998.

He was sentenced to death under section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code and to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs25,000 under section 392 of PPC or, in default, another two years’ RI. Two other accused were acquitted by the ATC for lack of evidence. Moula Bux Leghari, the victim’s son, lodged the complaint who also appeared as an eye- witness.

The convict challenged the ATC judgment in the Sindh High Court through Advocates Ghulamullah Chang and Mehmood Alam Rizvi.

The bench, comprising Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Justice Mushir Alam, upheld the conviction and dismissed the appeal. However, in view of his “prolonged” trial extending to over four years and young age, the bench converted the death penalty under section 302 to life term. The jail term and fine under section 392 were maintained, but the bench ordered that both the sentences should run concurrently and that the convict should also get the benefit of remissions under the law. Acquittals recorded by the ATC giving the two co-accused the benefit of doubt were also upheld.

COURT NOTICE: A division bench of High Court of Sindh fixed April 1 to hear a constitutional petition against a Karachi-based private cargo company and the Pakistan Railways and issued notices to the respondents, adds APP.