KARACHI: A local court on Saturday indicted Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) MPA Jam Owais and seven of his employees after a year-long trial in the Nazim Jokhi murder case.
The MPA and six co-accused were formally charged with abducting and torturing local journalist Nazim Jokhio to death in November 2021 in Memongoth police station, while the rest of the co-accused were charged with concealing evidence of the crime. .
Additional District and Sessions Judge (Malir) Faraz Ahmad Chandio read out the charge sheet against Owais, Muhammad Meraj, Muhammad Salim Salar, Ahmad Khan, Duda Khan, Muhammad Sommer, Hyder Ali and Mir Ali. All the accused pleaded not guilty and chose to fight the charges.
The learned judge directed the prosecution to present its witnesses to record their evidence against the accused. The hearing was adjourned till December 15 when they will hear a compromise plea filed jointly by the victim’s legal heirs and the legislator as well as four other accused. It has been pleaded on behalf of the accused that the court may agree to acquit them as the family of the slain worker had forgiven them in the name of Allah after the “intervention of the elders”.
Case
Initially, the six accused Jam Owais, Miraj, Saleem Salar, Doda, Somer and Ahmed Khan had reached an agreement with the family but later Saleem filed an application in the court saying that he was not interested in going out. He wanted a judicial settlement and to fight the charges leveled against him.
In January this year, the investigating officer filed the final charge sheet against the accused before the judicial magistrate. Later in February, the magistrate announced his verdict on the charge sheet, saying that the case falls within the ambit of terrorism and should be tried in an anti-terrorism court.
However, the ATC did not declare Nazim Jokhiv’s killing an act of terrorism in May and sent the case back to the Malir court for trial. Subsequently, the Judicial Magistrate in July booked the accused under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 201 (disappearance of evidence, or giving false information to screen offender), 365 (kidnapping), 506 Took notice of the crimes committed. criminal intimidation), Sections 109 (incitement) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
He had ruled that Jam Owais and seven of his associates would be tried while his elder brother MNA Jam Abdul Karim and five others were acquitted due to “insufficient evidence” against them.
Nazim Jokhio was found dead in a farmhouse of PPP MPA in November last year. The victim’s brother Afzal Jokhiv had named Owais and his MNA brother and their guards in the FIR for torturing the victim. He was allegedly killed after he posted a video on social media showing foreigners who had come to hunt the Hobara bustard in Thatta district. The foreigners were reportedly guests of the PPP legislators.
