Family holds last meeting with Saulat Mirza before execution

KARACHI: Death row prisoner Saulat Mirza met his family for the last time on Monday, a day before his scheduled execution for the murder for former KESC managing director Shahid Hamid, his driver and guard in 1997.

Saulat's brothers, sisters and nieces and nephews were among the relatives who arrived at the Machh jail today to meet the triple-murder convict.

According to prison sources, between 25 to 30 relatives met Saulat in groups of six in a room at the jail where the prisoner is scheduled to be hanged Tuesday morning.

Years after the assassination, the murder case of the KESC MD drew media attention once again when his confessed killer Saulat Mirza, a former MQM worker, made startling disclosures in a video released hours before his scheduled execution in March.

His hanging has been postponed multiple times since television channels aired his video statement, in which he claimed he was ordered by MQM chief Altaf Hussain to kill the KESC MD.

The MQM denies any involvement to the killing.

The wife of the condemned prisoner, Nighat Malik, had appealed to defer the execution of her husband for 2-3 months, maintaining that he is a key witness and his execution would lead to evidence being buried with him.

But last week, the Sindh High Court (SHC) dismissed a petition seeking to defer Saulat’s execution and reopening the murder case of MD KESC Shahid Hamid.

An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Karachi had earlier this month issued new death warrant for Saulat Mirza’s execution at the Machh Jail on May 12 (Tuesday).