Saulat Mirza to be executed on May 12

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) here on Saturday issued a new death warrant for Saulat Mirza.

The former Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) worker Saulat Mirza will be executed at the Machh Jail on May 12.

Mirza was sentenced to death in 1999 for the murder of then managing director of Karachi Electric Supply Corporation Shahid Hamid, his driver, and a guard in 1997 in Karachi's Defence area.

Saulat Mirza was scheduled to be executed on 19 March but the death row inmate in a video made startling revelations regarding the MQM and appealed for a delay in his execution.

He received a stay in his execution for 72 hours by the president which was later extended till April 30. During this time a joint investigation team formed to probe Mirza’s allegations visited him at the Machh Jail.

JIT REPORT

Mirza in his statement recorded to the JIT said MQM had links with India’s intelligence agency RAW. According to the JIT report obtained by Geo News, Mirza said funding to MQM came from RAW.

The report says that Mirza confessed to killing 13 people before the JIT and yet he was implicated in two murders only.

It said Saulat Mirza in the former KESC MD Shahid Hamid’s assassination case took only one new name - MQM leader Babar Ghauri.

The report recommends investigation by the intelligence agencies into Mirza’s disclosures.It further says that Saulat also made disclosures about MQM’s network in South Africa.

It also recommends reopening of cases against target killers identified by Mirza in his statement. Mirza also said that Khidmat-e-Khalq Foundation (KKF) – the welfare wing of MQM – is also used wrongfully.

The JIT report says that the media statement of Saulat was authentic and genuine. It also calls for reopening the murder case of former chairman Matric Board, Ismail Memon.

The report also proposes strict monitoring of welfare wings of religious outfits.