BHC disposes of lawyer murder case against PTI chief

F.P. Report

QUETTA: Balochistan High Court has disposed of the lawyer murder case against PTI chief and former prime minister Imran Khan.

A division bench consisting BHC Chief Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Gul Hassan Tareen pronounced the ruling on a plea of the PTI chief against the case on Monday.

The high court also quashed the FIR against Imran Khan also declared arrest warrants issued against him as “illegal”.

Judicial Magistrate-I had issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Imran Khan in connection with the murder case of senior advocate Abdul Razzaq Shar while was lodged by a citizen on 5 March, 2023.

Insaf Lawyers Forum (ILF) lawyers had challenged the case and the arrest warrants in the Balochistan High Court.

Lawyer Abdul Razzaq Shar was on his way to the Balochistan High Court complex in Quetta when he was shot dead more than 10 times in his car by unknown gunmen. He had died instantly.

Shar’s son, Siraj Ahmed, filed the complaint against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader, accusing the ex-premier of abetting murder, saying he believed his father was killed in connection with the case he had filed against Imran Khan. “My father filed a case against Imran Khan under Article 6, and I am certain this is why [Imran Khan] and his PTI people killed my father and spread terror,” Ahmed said in the statement issued when he filed the case, adding that his father had received death threats after filing his petition against Imran Khan.

Before his death, Shar had filed a petition with the Balochistan High Court, seeking proceedings against the former prime minister under Article 6 of the Constitution, which is connected to charges of high treason.

In his petition, Shar had argued that Imran Khan should be tried for treason due to his decision to dissolve the National Assembly in April last year to avoid a no-confidence motion meant to remove him as the prime minister.