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March 11, 2000

Karachi, Mar 10: Unidentified gunmen short dead a lawyer defending Pakistan’s ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif against a possible death sentence in a daylight attack on his city center office today, reports Reuters.

Police and witnesses said Iqbal Radh, a leading member of Sharif’s defense team, died form a volley team, died from a volley of bullets to his chest. An office assistant and the visiting son of a High court judge who were in the premised were also killed.

Pakistani military ruler General Pervez Musharraf called the killing “a dastardly act of terrorism.”

A spokesman for Sharif’s Pakistan Muslin league (PML), which was ousted in a bloodless October 12 coup by Musharraf, said Radh had received a number of threats but declined to elaborate.

“For the past some days he was complaining that he was receiving threats.” Raja Zafarul Haq told Reuters in Islamabad. He declined to comment on the motive for the slaying, but said it would hamper Sharif’s defence, which resumes on Monday.

Clad in a lawyer’s black coat, Radh’s body lay in a pool of blood. Some bullets had broken windows in his office, which is close to the courts and government offices.

A government statement quoted Musharraf as saying “the killing of an eminent lawyer by terrorists is the most heinous crime which could serve the purpose of vested interest.”

“He directed the security agencies to trace the culprits and bring them to justice with out loss of any time,” it said.

Radh in his early fifties, was also the legal adviser to the PML and a key defense lawyers in Sharifs trial on charges of attempted murder and hijacking, which carries a death sentence.

WAITING CAR

Police said the assassins fled with one of their accomplices who was waiting on a car parked outside the building.

“This could be and act of sabotage to damage the smooth trial proceedings… It could be personal enmity, we are not sure right now,” said Akhtar Gorchani, the district chief of police.

“It could be and act of terrorism before President Clinton’s visit since so far the law and order situation was fine.” He said.

The trial proceedings are expected to resume on Monday and it was not clear how the killing would affect the hearing.

Police said no one had claimed responsibility for the attack, adding ist was too early to speculate about a motive.

Radh threatened to stop representing Sharif after the judge in the trial said he would decide if some of Sharif’s testimony would not be made public.

He and several other lawyers withdrew the threat after the court assured them Shariff would be allowed to testify in open court.

The shooting took place weeks after the government banned public display of weapons in a bid to clean up Pakistan’s image and chip away at what is called its “Kalashnikom culture.”

Sharif’s wife Kulsoom Nawaz today strongly condemned the murder of her husband’s lawyer in karachi and blamed military rulers for a security lapse.

“We vehemently condemn the assassination of senior lawyer Iqbal Radh,” she said.

“It was a sever security lapse and failure of the military regime that a counsel of a case of international significance was killed in daylight in his office.” Kulsoom said in a statement hours after Radh was shot by three gunmen in Karachi.

Source: The Daily Star


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