SUKKUR: The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) of Sukkur has reserved its verdict in the high-profile case of the assassination of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader and an eminent religious scholar Dr Khalid Mahmood Soomro.

According to defence counsel, the verdict would be pronounced on December 20.

Dr Soomro was the party’s Sindh general secretary. His brother, Maulana Rashid Mehmood Soomro was appointed on this position after the assassination.

Dr Soomro was shot dead on November 29, 2014 when he was leaving his seminary, next to a mosque in Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Sukkur, after offering morning prayers. It was claimed that the assailant(s) was/were riding motorcycles.

On Saturday, ATC Judge Abdul Rehman Qazi heard final arguments in the case. The trial, which lasted almost a decade, was held inside the Sukkur Central Jail due to security reasons. The judge reserved the verdict after recording statements of plaintiff’s counsel Athar Abbas Solangi. In the earlier hearings, defendants’ counsel and prosecutor had also rested their sides.

Mr Solangi said he completed his arguments during the day’s proceedings. Defendants’ counsel Murtaza Shah was also in attendance.

Only six accused, who had been in police custody for long, were produced in court.

Speaking to the media on Saturday, slain leader’s brother and JUI-F’s Sindh General Secretary, Maulana Rashid Mehmood Soomro, said that more than 450 hearings were held and statements of more than 17 defence and prosecution witnesses were recorded since the trial had begun a decade back.

Maulana Dr Khalid Mehmood Soomro had joined practical politics in 1988 and had actively participated in the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD) in 1983 during which he was sent to the Sukkur Central Jail. He remained behind bars for nine months.

Dr Soomro had also been in the forefront of a protest when a military court, set up at the Sir Shahnawaz Library in Larkana, was trying his spiritual guide, Maulana Abdul Karim of Bair Sharif, situated near Qambar town, over a fatwa he had issued against the then military ruler Gen Ziaul Haq.

Dr Soomro came in the limelight when he contested polls against former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on NA-207. He fought for the same seat against PPP’s Faryal Talpur as well.

He remained a member of the Senate from 2006 to 2012 where he always spoke for the rights of Sindh. He was very vocal against the division of Sindh.

The Nov 29, 2014 attack was the seventh carried out on Dr Soomro.

Dr Khalid was born on May 7, 1959 to a religious family in the Akil village, near Larkana situated close to the Indus river bank.

After the death of his father Maulana Ali Mohammad Haqqani, Dr Soomro had taken over the charge of Madressah Isha’atul Quran, founded by his father. Dr Soomro remained its head till his assassination.

Meanwhile, JUI-F Sindh Emir Maulana Abdul Qayyoom Halejvi, speaking at a meeting attended by the party’s district presidents and general secretaries in the province, that workers should remain peaceful and pray that justice was dispensed in the assassination case.

Maulana Rashid Soomro announced special prayers for justice in all madressahs across the province on Dec 16.

The meeting was also attended by Maulana Siraj Ahmed Shah Amroti, Mufti Saud Afzal Halejvi, Maulana Abdul Aziz Qureshi, Maulana Mohammed Saleh Indhar, Dr A.G. Ansari, Maulana Mohammad Ramzan Phulpoto, Maulana Mohammad Ishaq Laghari and Maulana Meer Mohammed Meerak.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2024