Fatima Bhutto said she is still seeking justice for the murder of her father Mir Murtaza Bhutto who was assassinated 27 years ago.
In a series of posts on media site X, formerly Twitter, Fatima said she has been waiting for a long time for justice. She said the police officials who killed her father were never punished for their crimes but rather promoted to higher posts.
“27 years without justice for the murders in cold blood of seven men is a long time to wait. We are still waiting. All the high ranking police officers who killed my father, Mir Murtaza – a sitting member of parliament – and his comrades, were never punished for their crimes,” she said. “They were promoted again and again, protected by the powers that be.”
She shared a quote by US writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin who said,
“Force does not work the way its advocates seem to think it does. It does not, for example, reveal to the victim the strength of the adversary. On the contrary, it reveals the weakness, even the panic of the adversary and this revelation invests the victim with patience.”
“I am very patient,” she said, adding that she still yearns for justice for her murder.
27 years without justice for the murders in cold blood of seven men is a long time to wait. We are still waiting. All the high ranking police officers who killed my father, Mir Murtaza – a sitting member of parliament – and his comrades, were never punished for their crimes. pic.twitter.com/vcEYsAZUY5
— fatima bhutto (@fbhutto) September 19, 2023
Murtaza Bhutto murder
Murtaza Bhutto and his seven escorts were killed in an alleged police encounter on September 20, 1996, near his residence in Old Clifton.
Among the dead was Aashiq Jatoi, the provincial chief of the Pakistan People’s Party (Shaheed Bhutto Group). The injured list included six activists of Murtaza Bhutto’s party and three policemen, including Superintendent of Police of Saddar area of Karachi and two other station house officers (SHOs).
The case was registered on May 19, 1997 at Clifton police station. In the case, 59 witnesses and 22 suspects were nominated.
Later, only 19 nominated suspects were left due to former chief minister Sindh Abdullah Shah and Zeeshan Kazmi’s deaths and Asif Zardari acquittal from the court.
The suspects included former director Intelligence Bureau Shoaib Suddle and a number of police officials, including Wajid Durrani, Haq Nawaz Sayal, Faisal Hafeez, Rai Tahir, Agha Jameel, Shabeer Ahmed Qaimkhani, Shahid Hayat, Ghulam Mustafa, Zulfiqar Ahmed and Zafar Iqbal.
The suspects were charged under section 120, 302, and 324. In December 2009, all 19 suspects in Murtaza Bhutto murder case were acquitted by a lower court. The court also acquitted Murtaza Bhutto and his associates in the case.
