KARACHI, Jan 2: Although thousands of highly charged protesters vacated Aiwan-i-Saddar Road by ending a 10-hour sit-in outside the Governor’s House on certain conditions including that a judicial body will inquire allegations against a CID SP before his nomination in an FIR of the murder of a Pasban-i-Jafria leader, no such commission was constituted till the late hours of Monday.

The funeral prayers of 45-year-old Askari Raza, who was laid to rest later at the Wadi-e-Hussain graveyard, were offered on Aiwan-i-Saddar Road at around 6am after ‘successful talks’ between a six-member delegation and the authorities at the Governor’s House.

Mr Raza and his associate, Ali Mehdi, were gunned down by armed motorcycle riders in Gulshan-i-Iqbal on Saturday evening. They were taken to a private hospital, where Mr Raza died during treatment.

The protesters had refused to leave earlier when Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad and Senator Syed Faisal Raza Abidi addressed them in the early hours of Monday and announced that CID SP Chaudhry Aslam had been suspended. But the mourners demanded that the police officer and Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamat leader Maulana Aurengzeb Farooqi be booked in the murder case, and they would disperse only when they found their names in the FIR.

They later agreed to end the protest on some conditions, including registration of an FIR against the ASWJ leader and formation of a judicial commission to probe allega-tions against the SP within 48 hours before his nomination in the case.

Finally, an FIR (2/2012) was lodged with the Gulshan-i-Iqbal police station against Maulana Farooqi and three unidentified persons on a complaint of Dr Samar Abbas, a relative and leader of the Pasban-i-Jafaria.

The Gulshan-i-Iqbal station house officer told Dawn that an application submitted by the complainant contained the name of SP Chaudhary Aslam.

For the registration of the FIR, the Gulshan SHO had been called to the Governor’s House where the FIR was formally registered after the hours-long talks between the representatives of the protesters and the authorities.

There was no mention of SP Chaudhry Aslam in the FIR, which was registered under Sections 109, 302, 324 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, a senior police officer said.

However, SP Chaudhry Aslam had been suspended, a senior CID officer confirmed to Dawn.

‘Sindh govt’ to constitute commission Asked about the promised judicial commission, a spokesperson for the Governor’s House told Dawn that the Sindh government would constitute the commission.

“The governor played his role in ending the sit-in at the Governor’s House and held successful negotiations with a highly charged crowd,” said Wajahat Ali, the spokesperson for the Governor’s House.

Once constituted, the judicial commission will probe the direct or indirect involvement of the SP in the murder and will recommend his name for inclusion in the FIR if he was found to have played a role.

Explaining the demand for nominating the CID SP in the FIR, a Pasban-i-Jafria leader said that Advocate Mukhtar Bukhari and Askari Raza used to provide legal aid to different Shia organisations before they were killed in separate but similar incidents. He said SP Aslam was said to be harbouring a grudge against Mr Raza who had tried to nominate him in an FIR of the murder of Advocate Bukhari last year.

He said Mr Raza had to file a petition in the Sindh High Court on July 25 seeking, registration of an FIR against SP Aslam and a leader of the ASWJ, formerly the outlawed Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, at the Preedy police station.

It was widely believed that the CID SP then played a role in getting an FIR registered against Mr Raza at the Artillery police station through an ASWJ leader, he said.

SP Aslam was not available for comment.