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Sharif’s Lawyer gunned down
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March 11, 2000 Karachi,
Mar 10: Unidentified gunmen short dead a lawyer defending Pakistan’s
ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif against a possible death sentence in a
daylight attack on his city center office today, reports Reuters. Police
and witnesses said Iqbal Radh, a leading member of Sharif’s defense
team, died form a volley team, died from a volley of bullets to his chest.
An office assistant and the visiting son of a High court judge who were in
the premised were also killed. Pakistani
military ruler General Pervez Musharraf called the killing “a dastardly
act of terrorism.” A
spokesman for Sharif’s Pakistan Muslin league (PML), which was ousted in
a bloodless October 12 coup by Musharraf, said Radh had received a number
of threats but declined to elaborate. “For
the past some days he was complaining that he was receiving threats.”
Raja Zafarul Haq told Reuters in Islamabad. He declined to comment on the
motive for the slaying, but said it would hamper Sharif’s defence, which
resumes on Monday. Clad
in a lawyer’s black coat, Radh’s body lay in a pool of blood. Some
bullets had broken windows in his office, which is close to the courts and
government offices. A
government statement quoted Musharraf as saying “the killing of an
eminent lawyer by terrorists is the most heinous crime which could serve
the purpose of vested interest.” “He
directed the security agencies to trace the culprits and bring them to
justice with out loss of any time,” it said. Radh
in his early fifties, was also the legal adviser to the PML and a key
defense lawyers in Sharifs trial on charges of attempted murder and
hijacking, which carries a death sentence. WAITING
CAR Police
said the assassins fled with one of their accomplices who was waiting on a
car parked outside the building. “This
could be and act of sabotage to damage the smooth trial proceedings… It
could be personal enmity, we are not sure right now,” said Akhtar
Gorchani, the district chief of police. “It
could be and act of terrorism before President Clinton’s visit since so
far the law and order situation was fine.” He said. The
trial proceedings are expected to resume on Monday and it was not clear
how the killing would affect the hearing. Police
said no one had claimed responsibility for the attack, adding ist was too
early to speculate about a motive. Radh
threatened to stop representing Sharif after the judge in the trial said
he would decide if some of Sharif’s testimony would not be made public. He
and several other lawyers withdrew the threat after the court assured them
Shariff would be allowed to testify in open court. The
shooting took place weeks after the government banned public display of
weapons in a bid to clean up Pakistan’s image and chip away at what is
called its “Kalashnikom culture.” Sharif’s
wife Kulsoom Nawaz today strongly condemned the murder of her husband’s
lawyer in karachi and blamed military rulers for a security lapse. “We
vehemently condemn the assassination of senior lawyer Iqbal Radh,” she
said. “It
was a sever security lapse and failure of the military regime that a
counsel of a case of international significance was killed in daylight in
his office.” Kulsoom said in a statement hours after Radh was shot by
three gunmen in Karachi. Source:
The Daily Star |