A division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC), on Friday, rejected the plea challenging the acquittal of former Punjab chief minister, Shehbaz Sharif, in Sabzazar police encounter case. Khursheed Khanam, mother of the victims, Waseem and Rauf, killed in the police encounter, had filed the petition in 2009. The bench had approved the plea after the petitioner gave a credible reason for the delay. Petitioner stated that Shehbaz Sharif had been acquitted after another complainant in the murder case of Shakeel, Salahuddin and Ashraf had forgiven him, that led to his acquittal. Her husband had not withdrawn from the allegations and she continued pursuing the case, the petition added. Khanam said that the trial court could not acquit Sharif of the charges relying on the statement of one of the parties to the case while requesting the court to conduct his trial afresh. Sharif’s counsel, Khawaja Haris, had said that trial court had released Sharif on merit while pointing out that the former chief minister had decided to face the trial as he rejected the reconcilement application of one of the complainants. While reserving its judgement, the court rejected the appeal against the acquittal of Sharif.
Published in Daily Times, March 23rd 2019.
