Karachi: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Saturday issued the death warrant of Saulat Ali Khan weeks after postponement of his execution following a sensational release of his repenting video and accusation of top leadership of the party he belonged to.
Khan, better known as Saulat Mirza, will be hanged now on May 12 at Macch Jail in Balochistan province.
He was languishing in jails after being convicted for murdering Shahid Hamid, the then managing director of Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) in 1997. The execution of his capital punishment could not be carried as undeclared moratorium on death sentences remained intact for many years beside his mercy appeals remained pending at different forums for years.
However, his execution was scheduled on March 19, after the revival of death sentence in the aftermath of bloody militants attack on an Army Public School in Peshawar city in which more than 150 students and teaching staff were killed.
Hours before his March 19 hanging, a video was leaked at the national television, showing Mirza claiming that he got the murder orders from Altaf Hussain, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief, who called up from London at the residence of Babar Ghauri, a party legislator.
The MQM rejected the allegations saying it was a part of the ongoing propaganda against the party and that Mirza was sacked from the party and he did not belong to them.
Soon after the release of the video, high ups in Islamabad issued orders for the deferment of Mirza’s execution to see if his claims could be testified legally.
A joint investigation team (JIT) was subsequently formed to interrogate Mirza at his death cell.
The JIT, comprising senior police officers of the Sindh police probed Mirza and submitted its report to the provincial home department for its perusal. Nevertheless, the local media reported that the Mirza’s claim could not be of any help to implicate the party leadership in the murder case.
Last week Macch Jail authorities wrote to the ATC, seeking fresh death warrants of Mirza.
