MULTAN, Oct 31: How time-consuming and painful is the strife to get justice in this country can be adjudged from the ordeal of a local journalist whose son was murdered in July 2000.
Masihullah Khan Jampuri had two sons and two daughters. The elder one, Ahmed Hasan was a fourth year student at Nishter Medical College in the year 2000. On July 14 that year, when he did not return home from the college library in the night, Mr Masihullah started searching for him and learnt that Mr Hasan had left the library in his car in the company of class-fellows Hasnain and Atif.
The next day some photojournalists on their routine visit to the local mortuary identified a body found from Iskandria Canal as of Mr Hasan, whom they knew because of his father.
Meanwhile, Mr Hasan’s car was found abandoned at a deserted place in Bahawalpur. Later, the stay of Atif and Hasnain at a hotel of Bahawalpur was also established from where they had contacted a number of car dealers to dispose of Mr Hasan’s car on fake documents. However, when some of the brokers expressed doubts about the veracity of the documents, they discarded the car and proceeded to Multan.
As all the circumstantial evidence was against them, Atif and Hasnain were arrested by Multan police and they confessed to murder and dacoity at a press conference organised by the police.
However, the police took almost three months to submit the chargesheet of the case at a local anti-terrorism court (ATC-2). Charges were framed a week later. At that time, the ATC-2 had no judge. Judge Riazul Hasan Alvi of ATC-1 started hearing the case as the acting in-charge of ATC-2.
In March 2001, the law department posted a permanent judge, Shaukat Husain, against the vacant post of ATC-2. A retrial ensued.
The military government amended the Anti-Terrorism Act in Aug 2001 and deleted the dacoity-cum-murder cases from the act’s purview.
Consequently, the Ahmed Hasan murder case was transferred to the district and session court in September. The case was referred to Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Arshad Iqbal.
Meanwhile, a move was initiated that civil matters be tried by one ADSJ and the criminal by another. Judge Arshad Malik had nearly completed the trial when it was decided that he would now hear only civil cases. The Ahmed Hasan case was shifted to the court of Judge Mian Ghulam Husain.
Judge Ghulam Husain started hearing the case on May 4, 2002. However, the accused filed a petition with the Multan bench of Lahore High Court to transfer the case back to the court of Judge Arshad Malik. The LHC took two months to dismiss the petition.
Judge Ghulam Husain was yet to announce his verdict when he was transferred and replaced by Judge Ikramullah. The new judge heard the final arguments of the lawyers of both sides afresh last month. On October 30, last of the lawyers was to finish his arguments when Judge Ikramullah was transferred to Haroonabad.
For his satisfaction, the new judge is likely to hear arguments of the defence and the prosecution yet again on the next date of hearing on Nov 11..
Some 140 hearings of the case have been held so far. Mr Masihullah Khan is not sure how many more are in the offing to get justice against a crime that has shattered him and his family forever.