KARACHI: The Macch jail authorities have sought a death warrant for a convict whose hanging was deferred after his controversial video was leaked on national television, showing him accusing his party leaders of ordering the murder he committed.
The superintendent of Macch Jail on Monday wrote the letter to an antiterrorism court (ATC) Karachi seeking the death warrant for Saulat Ali Khan alias Saulat Mirza, who was convicted for a 1997 murder of then chief of Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC).
Mirza was to be hanged on the dawn of March 19 but the video, released to the national broadcasters, stirred the political scene of the country leading to deferments of his execution, initially for a week and then for a month till April 30.
In the video, Mirza disclosed a series of events in which he committed the murder of the KESC chief. He said that the orders were given to him over telephone by Altaf Hussain, the chief of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), at the residence of Babar Ghauri, another MQM leader.
MQM rejected all the claims and termed the video as part of propaganda to malign the party and its leadership.
Critics were also intrigued as to how the video of a convict on death row could be recorded and leaked from the death cell of highly fortified jail, located in western Balochistan province.
The hanging of Mirza was postponed on the orders of the prime minister’s office to the president of Pakistan, who subsequently cancelled the death warrants.
In pursuance of the confession and disclosure of Mirza, the government had formed a joint investigation committee (JIT) to probe Mirza so that his statement could be translated into incriminating evidence. The JIT has been completed but nothing so far has been made public about the findings.
The Macch Jail authorities have written to the ATC that the extension in the death warrants had been made till April 30 and now the warrant needed to be revived.
