KARACHI: The Sindh government on Wednesday asked the Sindh High Court to nominate a serving judge of the SHC to conduct a judicial inquiry into the killing of blasphemy suspect Dr Shahnawaz Kunbhar, who was shot dead in a staged encounter in Mirpurkhas.

The provincial home department wrote a letter to the SHC registrar and stated that Dr Kunbhar was booked in an FIR lodged at an Umerkot police station under Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code on Sept. 17. He was killed by the police in an encounter on Sept 18 within the jurisdiction of the Sindhri police jurisdiction in Mirpurkhas, it added.

The letter stated that the inspector general of police (IGP) had constituted a committee to probe the killing of Dr Kunbhar in custody. It said that the committee “concluded that the police encounter was fake”. Consequently, the legal hairs of the deceased registered a murder case against several police officials.

“Keeping in view the above stated position, it has now become imperative that judicial inquiry may be conducted into the subject matter incident in order to ascertain the real facts and fix responsibility on the delinquent police officers/officials and individuals in the interest of justice,” the home department letter stated.

It requested the judiciary to nominate a high court judge to conduct the judicial inquiry.

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2024