The brother of Nazimuddin Jokhio, who was allegedly murdered at two PPP lawmakers' farmhouse in Karachi's Malir area earlier this month, on Tuesday moved an application before a local court seeking the transfer of the case to the administrative judge of the anti-terrorism courts (ATC).

Nazim was found tortured to death at the farmhouse of PPP MPA Jam Awais and his brother, MNA Jam Abdul Karim, on November 3. The victim’s family accuses the MPA and his henchmen of torturing him to death for resisting houbara bustard hunting by the lawmaker’s Arab guests in Nazim’s Achar Salaar village in Malir district.

The application — moved on behalf of Nazim's brother, Muhammad Afzal Ahmed Jokhio, by his counsel, Advocate Shah Muhammad Zaman Junejo — says MNA Karim and MPA Awais alias Gohram Khan Bijar Jokhio, being the sardars (chieftains) of the Jokhio tribe, are influential persons.

The application alleges that they killed Nazim and states that their motive behind the murder was to restrain and teach a lesson to members of the Jokhio tribe and other communities in Malir so that they do not raise their voice against any unlawful acts committed by the the suspects and their guests in their constituencies. It adds that the PPP lawmakers wanted to set an example of what will be the consequences of raising a voice against them — brutal murder as that of Nazim.

“The same action of murdering the deceased was committed in a barbaric and gruesome manner creating fear, terror, insecurity and anguish in the minds of a section of the public, particularly the entire community of the district Malir and Jokhio tribe,” it reads.

It has been argued in the application that the case attracts Section 6 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

The application moved the court to transfer the matter to the administrative judge of an ATC for further proceedings as per law as the incumbent court has no jurisdiction to try the same.

No order was passed on the application till the filing of this report.

Remand extended

During the hearing on Tuesday, the court extended the physical remand of prime suspect PPP MPA Jam Awais and five others in the case.

The court had initially sent MPA Awais on a three-day remand to police on November 5, hours after he had surrendered to law enforcers. His remand was extended last week after the expiry of the first physical remand.

Police brought him and five other suspects, namely Abdul Razzaq Jokhio, Ameen, Haider Ali, Meraj and Jamal Wahid, to the Malir Judicial Complex amid tight security on Tuesday.

Investigation Officer (IO) Mujtaba Bajwa produced them before the judicial magistrate (Malir) to seek further extension in their physical remand for interrogation and investigation.

The IO informed the court that he had recovered the instrument (batons) used in the commissioning of the offence, as well as forensic evidence, but the investigation remained incomplete.

Therefore, he requested the magistrate to extend the physical remand of the suspects by 14 days.

The magistrate, however, extended the remand for two more days, till November 18, directing the IO to produce the suspects at the next hearing along with an investigation report.