KARACHI: Karsaz tribunal orders arrest of PPP leader

Pakistan Dawn - Azfar-ul-Ashfaque

KARACHI, Feb 4: An inquiry tribunal investigating the Oct 18 Karsaz blasts issued a non-bailable warrant for the arrest of Pakistan People’s Party leader Dr Zulfiqar Mirza on Monday after he refused to appear before the tribunal to record his testimony.

A three-member PPP team responsible for the overall security of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto upon her homecoming on Oct 18, comprising Dr Zulfiqar Mirza, Agha Siraj Durrani and Maj-Gen (retd) Ahsan Ahmed, were summoned for Jan 28 but only Mr Ahmed appeared before the tribunal. The tribunal had repeated summons for Dr Mirza and Mr Durrani for Feb 4 and warned them of adopting a ‘coercive process’ if they failed to appear before the tribunal.

However, when the proceeding began, process server sub-inspector Muhammad Ayub Bhutta of Kario Ghawar police station, Badin district, submitted his report before the tribunal head, retired Justice Dr Ghous Mohammad, that he had served a summon on Dr Mirza but he refused to comply with it.

Special prosecutor Arshad Lodhi submitted a copy of the process server’s report containing a handwritten note by Dr Mirza. “I am receiving this summon under protest because our leader Shaheed Benazir Bhutto did not recognise this tribunal as free and fair. Therefore, we have decided not to appear before such a forum. We do our utmost efforts to stop that unfair treatment to the largest party of Pakistan,” wrote Dr Mirza, who was the security chief of Ms Bhutto and is working now in the same capacity with PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari.

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KARACHI: Karsaz tribunal orders arrest of PPP leader

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