According to police, Abdul Saboor, brother of the public prosecutor, was murdered by unknown armed persons.

Abdul Maroof said his brother had no enemy. He said the motive behind the murder could not be ascertained so far.

The News

Following the delaying tactics of the organised criminal gang behind the murder of journalist Wali Khan Babar and the killing of six eye witnesses, one prosecutor and, the case has finally concluded, setting an example of being a case where the killers have been prosecuted and brought to justice.

Two main killers, still at large, have been awarded death sentence and four arrested are awarded life imprisonment.

Much has been written about the Wali Babar murder case in national and international media. But there are many unwritten and untold stories from the murder of the journalist in January 2011 to the conclusion of the first stage of the case on March 1, 2014.

Five eyewitnesses including Rajab Bangali, policeman Asif Rafiq, Naveed Tanoli brother of Inspector Shafiq Tanoli who arrested the accused and Haider Ali who identified the accused convicts before the court and one prosecutor Naimat Randhawa got murdered. Earlier, lawyers on behalf of the complainant Arshad Iqbal Cheema, Muhammad Khan Buriro and Mubashar Mirza had refused to proceed with the matter. All three lawyers fled abroad following death threats. Buriro and Mirza later returned to Pakistan after the passage of a year.

A policeman who investigated the murder case and arrested the absconding accused in Wali Babar case said those arrested are only foot soldiers or simple agents. “The mastermind and culprits who ordered these criminals to kill Babar are still safe and will remain so because of their influence.”

“The criminal gang who ordered the killings is not only operating in the country; it is also operating from other Western countries as well as South Africa, Sri Lanka and UAE. Everyone in the law enforcing agencies is aware of this mafia but they are silent due to political compulsions,” says another policeman on condition of anonymity.

The decision from the ATC in Wali Babar case is the first stage. The criminals behind this murder will challenge the decision in the high court and are capable of challenging the case in the apex court too.
The way Wali Babar was chased and killed, how the five eye witnesses and one prosecutor of the case were murdered one by one, and the support obtained by the arrested criminals proves it was not the act of any ordinary criminal gang but the work of a highly-organised mafia.

After the killings of five eye witnesses and one prosecutor of the case Naimat Randhawa, the Sindh Government on the pressure of journalist community requested the Sindh High Court to transfer the case from Karachi High Court to Anti-terrorism Court Khandkot.

The case was transferred on November 8, 2013 and the accused shifted to nearer District Jail Shikarpur on November 28, 2013 due to pressure of their supporters.

The case was defended by the defense counsel of the accused Suleman Mujahid Baloch MNA of MQM from NA 239 Karachi. Baloch used many delaying tactics, remained absent on three hearings in a row despite the case being in its final stage. But after getting warning from the court and the decision of Sindh Government to provide counsel to the accused on state expense, Baloch appeared and argued.
There are reports that the administration of District Jail Shikarpur is still providing illegal facilities to the accused-now-convicts of this high profile murder case due to their political backing.

A well-placed source in Sindh Jail Department revealed that the convicts, Faisal Mehmood alias Nafsiyati, Naveed alias Polka, Muhammad Ali Rizvi, Shakeel Malik and Shah Rukh alias Mani confined, had not only been enjoying the facilities reserved for A class prisoners but they had even visited the city in an official car of a jail officer twice during their confinement. The jail administration is said to be providing them good quality food and has appointed two prisoners to wait on them, it was learnt. These facilities are subject to court orders only and can be provided to highly literate persons, law graduates and members of parliament.

The journalist community protested on January 18 on the call of PFUJ in front of Shikarpur Jail against these acts.

Leaders, MNAs and MPAs of a particular party have been present and fully supporting every hearing of the case, extending full legal support to the murderer of Babar Wali.

The confidential joint interrogation reports (JITs) of six premier intelligence agencies of the country including ISI, IB, CID, Pakistan Rangers and police point towards the MQM workers’ involvement in the murder of Wali Babar and also confirmed that Faisal Mehmood alias Nafsiyati, Shah Rukh alias Mani and Muhammad Ali Rizvi were workers of Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

According to the JIT reports, the orders to kill Babar were issued by some ‘influential people’ living in South Africa but with connections in Karachi.

The JIT report further said that accused revealed to the investigators that their group leader, Faisal alias Mota, had received orders from a man named Agha to kill Babar. Faisal Mota held several meetings with them at different places to finalise the modus operandi of the operation.

MQM spokesman Wasay Jalil said the party has nothing to do with any of the convicted killers. “Every Urdu-speaking person is not an MQM worker. Such allegations are not new to the party as some people continue to spread fabricated stories against the party,” he said, adding these questions should arise only if the court convicts MQM.

Secretary General Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists PFUJ said, “The journalist community welcomes the court decision and our struggle for free media will continue.” He said the journalist community will also pursue the other cases of journalists’ murders in the line of duty.

There were two important turning points in the case which helped the prosecution to conclude the case — the confessional statement of one accused Shahrukh alias Mani before the judicial magistrate Karachi regarding the killing of Wali Babar and involvement of another accused. The other was the identification of convicts before the court by an eyewitness Haider Ali who was later killed in November, 2012.

Some questions related to the case are still unanswered. Will the judgement announced by the anti-terrorism court after three years of the murder reveal the masterminds, the actual culprits behind the murder? Will the main killers be arrested and punished?

In a country like Pakistan, especially in Sindh province where proclaimed offenders become ministers and members of parliament, anyone can imagine the situation. The main question is: Why was Wali Babar picked on? Some quarters say that he wanted to interview the ex-wife of a political leader and some suggest he was murdered due to his ethnic background.

These questions remain unanswered. The decision from the ATC in Wali Babar case is the first stage. The criminals behind this murder will challenge the decision in the high court and are capable of challenging the case in the apex court too.

The News

AT last, some accountability. Some days ago, a little over three years after Wali Khan Babar was shot dead while on his way home from work at a local television channel in Karachi, six people were convicted of the young reporter’s murder. Two of them, who have never been apprehended, were sentenced to death in absentia while four others, arrested a few months after the killing, were given life imprisonment. After Daniel Pearl, this is the first case of a journalist’s murder in Pakistan in which there has been a conviction. It is a welcome development in a country deemed one of the world’s most dangerous for journalists where, according to international watchdog organisations, scores of journalists have been killed over the last decade by violent ethnic, religious or militant groups and there have been times where even the country’s security establishment has come under suspicion.

In order to undo the culture of impunity that surrounds such murders, the successful prosecution in this instance must not be an exception; the cases of other slain journalists should be pursued with alacrity and determination. Although the Wali Babar case had all the twists and turns typical of a high-profile crime — several witnesses were murdered and two prosecutors reportedly fled abroad on account of threats — it also demonstrated that strong resolve and an innovative approach on the part of the state can yield results. The decision to move the trial from Karachi to an anti-terrorism court in Shikarpur was perhaps pivotal in bringing about a conclusive result, as it placed vulnerable individuals who were material to the prosecution at a distance from those seeking to silence them. The Wali Babar case is thus important for the signal it sends to those who would silence journalists for doing their job. The same needs to be done in the case of other journalists killed in the country, not the least of them being Saleem Shahzad. Without that, suspicions of the state’s complicity by either omission or commission will remain.

DAWN

Karachi: Four men convicted of murdering Geo News reporter journalist Wali Khan Babar filed appeals on Thursday in the Sindh High Court against their life sentences.

Mohammad Shahrukh, 24, Faisal Mehmood, 45, Tahir Naveed Shah, 34, and Mohammad Ali Rizvi, 40, had been sentenced for life by an anti-terrorism court.

The appellants’ counsel alleged the prosecution had failed to prove its charges against the men and there was no direct evidence against them. The trial court erred in its judgment by relying on the prosecution case, which could not be substantiated in the eyes of the law, he claimed.

The high court was asked to set aside the convictions and to order the release of appellants if they were not involved in other cases.

On February 28, the Shikarpur anti-terrorism court had also handed down death sentences to two absconding men, Kamran alias Zeeshan and Faisal. Another man, 44-year-old Mohammad Shakeel, was however acquitted by the court.

Babar was shot dead on January 13, 2011, in Liaquatabad. The accused were arrested from Gulshan-e-Iqbal after a shootout. During interrogation, they confessed to their involvement in the murder.

Police charged the defendants along with their absconding associates, Kamran alias Zeeshan, Junaid, Saeed, Liaquat and Faisal, that they had killed the reporter due to some enmity.

The News

KARACHI: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CJP) on Wednesday welcomed the conviction of Geo News reporter, Wali Khan Babar’s killers, Geo News reported.

Wail Babar, 28, covered the seamy side of Karachi, a sweltering port mega city of 18 million people. He reported on drugs, crime, militancy and deadly turf struggles between the city’s main political parties. He was shot dead on January 13, 2011 as he left work.

Talking exclusively to Geo News, Bob Dietz, coordinator of CPJ’s Asia Program, said that it was a significant development in terms of serving justice but convicting merely the “hands” was not enough as the “heads” who masterminded Babar’s murder were yet free to continue with their murderous intrigues.

“Netting the small fry won’t help until the big fish were harpooned”, said he.

He also lauded the police, who, despite a lot of political pressure, performed their duty honestly.

“Though, there were many a legal lacuna in the way the case was pled, however, the final judgment turned out to be a milestone for Pakistan”, Deitz said further.

He said the government and the Supreme Court of Pakistan were serious about safeguarding journalists.

“It is evident from their sincere efforts in Babar’s murder case. I must say it speaks volumes for their bona fide intent for the cause.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists is an American independent nonprofit organization, based in New York City, New York, that promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists.

Geo News

KARACHI: The city police have released mug shots of the two absconders involved in the murder of Geo television journalist Wali Khan Babar.

The two absconders, Kamran alias Shani and Faisal alias Faisal Mota have been sentenced to death in Wali Babar’s murder case. The city’s police chief announced on Monday a reward of Rs2 million for anyone who would assist in the arrests of the two convicts. “The identity of the informer shall be kept confidential,” assured the Karachi police spokesperson. “The names of the proclaimed offenders have also been included in the Exit Control List.”

A special Anti-Terrorism Court in Kandhkot announced on Saturday the verdict in Wali Khan Babar’s murder case, awarding the death penalty to two of the accused and life imprisonment to the other four accused.

Wali Khan Babar, 28, was gunned down in Liaquatabad on January 13, 2011, while driving home from work. An FIR regarding the incident was registered on the same day. In the court’s verdict announced on Saturday, two of the accused, Kamran alias Zeeshan alias Shani and Faisal alias Mota, were sentenced to death. Meanwhile, Faisal Mehmood alias Nafsiyati, Naveed alias Polka, Muhammad Ali Rizvi and Shahrukh alias Mani were sentenced to life imprisonment. The seventh accused, Shakeel, was discharged due to lack of evidence.

Express Tribune

KARACHI: District Jail administration Shikarpur is providing illegal facilities to the convicts of Wali Babar murder case due to their political backing, The News has learnt.

An official of District Jail Shikarpur told The News on the condition of anonymity that convicts of Wali Babar case Faisal Mehmood alias Nafsiyati, Naveed alias Polka, Muhammad Ali Rizvi, Shakeel Malik and Shah Rukh alias Mani confined at Shikarpur District Jail not only enjoying these illegal facilities which are reserved for A class prisoners only but these five prisoners also visited the city in an official car of a jail officer two times during their confinement.

This source told that the jail administration providing them high class food and appointed two prisoners for looking after them.

According to the Jail manual A class facilities could be given only on court orders to eminent people.

Jail Superintendent Ali Bux Shaikh, however, told The News that all the information regarding special facilities to the convicts of Wali Babar case were incorrect. “They are being treated as the common prisoners. The jail administration not giving illegal facilities to them because they were shifted here on the administrative orders of the Sindh Government due to security reasons. How can any official of the jail could dare to give them special services,” he further said.

The leader and President Sukkur Press Club Lala Asad Pathan told The News that he had confirmed information that due to support of a political party, murderers of Wali Babar were being treated as special guests and enjoying illegal facilities in jail.

The News

ISLAMABAD: The government will petition a superior court against the acquittal of an accused and the award of life imprisonment to four accused instead of the death penalty by an anti-terrorism court of Sindh in the murder case of Geo News reporter Wali Khan Babar.

The Sindh administration would be asked by the federal government to redouble its efforts for an early arrest of absconding convicts who have been handed death penalty.

It is the first murder case in the country whose venue was shifted from Karachi to a remote town in the interior Sindh benefiting from the Protection of Pakistan Ordinance (PPO) promulgated last year. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s assertions cannot be undervalued who had pledged in public meetings at least a dozen times that the government would not let Wali Khan Babar’s killers go scot-free.

Sources told The News Saturday evening that the federal government kept monitoring developments in the case and stayed in touch with the Sindh administration throughout on the direct instructions of Prime Minister Nawaz.

He was among the first national leaders who condemned the killing of Wali Khan Babar in strongest terms. Babar was gunned down in Karachi on January 13, 2011.

Wali Babar murder case was one of the causes that forced the federal government to legislate the PPO as the case had turned highly sensitive when six people linked with the prosecution including a witness and a lawyer had already been killed one after another, the sources reminded.

The prosecution will study the verdict once the detailed judgment is announced and an appeal would be submitted in the light of that in the higher court for enhancement of punishment and revision of acquittal of one of the accused, the sources said.

The News