KARACHI: The widow of young Nazim Jokhio, who was killed for raising voice against influential persons, said on Wednesday that she had forgiven all the accused including Pakistan Peoples Party MNA Jam Abdul Karim and his younger brother MPA Jam Awais in the name of Allah.

The grief-stricken Shirin Jokhio issued a video statement saying she was not capable of handling court matters and she was forgiving the accused for the sake of her children. “I want to make it clear that no offer [for compensation] has been made.”

She said she got four children including three daughters. She said only those who had children of their own could understand her ordeal.

Ms Jokhio said she wanted to fight the case but she felt abandoned by her very own.

She said she was helpless because of her children and under these circumstances, she has pardoned all the accused.

Says there’s no justice in Pakistan; her lawyer claims Shirin was under immense pressure from family

She urged the media and others not to get her wrong.

Regretted that there was no justice in Pakistan, she said: “If there had been justice, our sister Afia Siddiqi could not have been languishing in a jail abroad as our rulers have done nothing to get her released from the prison.”

She said she did not have power and felt compelled to take this decision because of her small children.

In the end, the widow said she left the matter to Almighty Allah.

Talking to Dawn, victim’s brother Afzal Jokhio, who is the complainant of the case, said their community elders persuaded them to forgive the accused.

He, however, was reluctant to share any more information about it.

NCHR to become party in case

Ms Jokhio’s lawyer Mohammed Khan Shaikh told Dawn that she had told him that she was under immense pressure from her close relatives.

He said her relatives including her brothers-in-law and uncles told her that they would not allow her to pursue the case even if she committed suicide along with her children.

He revealed that prominent rights activist Anis Haroon, civil society activist Jibran Nasir and others met with them and in their meeting, it has been resolved that the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) would become ‘intervene’ in the Nazim Jokhio murder case.

He said that they would become a party since the case pertained to terrorising society at large and violation of human rights.

He pointed out that the under Section 9-C the NCHR Act, the commission has the ‘right to intervene’.

Meanwhile, sources said that the sudden change of heart from the Jhokhio’s family came due to the pressure mounted by their community, political circle and even police high-ups.

They said there were reports of payment of compensation to the widow by the two influential accused and her public announcement came after “elders from all the three segments” turned up as guarantors for the fresh thaw between the two sides.

The 27-year-old Nazim Jokhio was found tortured to death at PPP’s MNA Jam Karim and MPA Jam Awais farmhouse in Malir in November last year.

The both lawmakers and others have been booked for allegedly killing Jokhio after he resisted their foreign friends from hunting houbara bustard.

Police have named the interned MPA and four others as accused and shown the MNA and three others as absconding accused in the case.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2022