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Civil-Society Activists File Petition In SC Against Decision In Shahzeb Khan Murder Case

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After the alarming decision of granting bail to the perpetrators of Shahzeb Khan’s murderers by the Sindh High Court, civil society of Pakistan has presumably gone into a complete meltdown. After 5 years of the case’s running, late Shahzeb Khan’s killers are now back on the streets again.

The Sindh High Court had granted bail to the prime suspect Shahrukh Jatoi, the Talpur brothers and their servant, after Shahzeb Khan’s father took money through the Diyat Ordinance, forgiving them for the sake of ‘Allah’.

Source: facebook.com

Civil society activists, however, have not taken the court’s decision well, and are set to contest the case in the Supreme Court. The only way Shahrukh Jatoi and cortege could be put behind bars is that if the case falls under the jurisdiction of the Anti-Terrorism Court, through the ATC Act of 1997.

Ten famous civil society activists, including Muhammad Jibran Nasir, Jamshed Raza Mahmood, Afiya Shehrbano Zia, Naeem Sadiq, Nazim Fida Hussain Haji, Zulfiqar Shah, Aquila Ismail, Fahim Zaman Khan, and Naziha Syed Ali, will be representing the petition filing party.

As the Express Tribune stated, “In 2013, the SC had taken suo motu notice of the murder and decided to adjudicate on the question of whether the pardon granted by the family conforms to the law and is in the interest of society. The court had sought opinions from the attorney general for Pakistan and the advocates general of all four provinces. It also appointed Shahid Hamid as amicus curiae for the suo motu hearings.

Source: newslinemagazine.com

During the hearing, the court had observed that in the murder cases, the trial and high courts are duty-bound to examine the genuineness of the compromise, otherwise it would allow the parties to compound the offence without adhering to Islamic injunctions, particularly Section 311 of the Pakistan Penal Code.”

Even though Shahzeb Khan’s family has forgiven his murderers, the civil society has not accepted their or the court’s decision. Shahzeb’s murder set a trend which was followed by the deaths of Hamza Ahmed, Suleman Lashari and recently, Zafir Zuberi. If the courts do not make an exemplary decision in this particular case, same suit would follow in the rest.

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