Syed Hammad Raza

Infobox Person
name = Syed Hammad Raza


nationality = Pakistani
occupation = Former Additional Registrar Supreme Court of Pakistan
birth_date = 9 January 1970
birth_place = flagicon|Pakistan Sharaqpur Dist. Sheikhupura, Pakistan
death_date = 14 May 2007
death_place = islamabad, Pakistan
death_cause = Assassination
spouse = Shabana Raza
children =

Syed Hammad Raza, Additional Registrar, Supreme Court of Pakistan, was a civil servant belonging to the elite District Management Group of Central Superior Services of Pakistan. He was a close confidant of the suspended Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, and served as his virtual staff officer until his gruesome murder on May 14, 2007. While Pakistani police is still investigating his murder, it is widely believed that he was target killed because he had refused to cooperate with authorities for providing evidence which would incriminate Justice Chaudhry in the wake of the ongoing judicial crisis in Pakistan.

Details

Widow of assassinated Additional Registrar of Supreme Court Syed Hamad Raza, Shabana Raza Monday has alleged police are trying to turn the assassination into a dacoity incident and said that her husband was targeted. She told journalists at her residence on Monday that police is treating the assassination as a robbery-related crime, which is totally wrong.

(The) Police (are) hiding the actual fact that her husband was gunned down, she held.

She underlined that her husband was killed as a result of targeted killing as he was previously getting serious death threats.

It is pertinent to mention that unknown armed men on Monday gunned down Additional Registrar of Supreme Court Syed Hamad Raza at his residence in G-10/2 in Islamabad, the Capital of Pakistan. He has left a widow (37 years) and three children (two sons and one daughter).

He is regarded as a key witness by lawyers representing Pakistan’s suspended chief justice in his fight against President Pervez Musharraf’s move to sack him.

Some circles think that President Musharraf and justice chaudhryare hand in hand and this drama is staged to prolong military rule. Syed Hamad Raza, being the key witness of all this, after May 12, 07 killings of 40 people in karachi was going to reveal it to public was eliminated in emergency on May 14,07 through agencies with the help of police. Syed Hamad Raza, an additional registrar of the Supreme Court, was shot at point-blank range by two or three gunmen just before dawn at his home here, police and relatives said. “He was an important person in our case,” Munir Ahmed Malik, a lawyer on suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry’s legal team, said.

Another of Chaudhry’s lawyers said Raza was working closely with the suspended chief justice. “He was witness to many things, like the chief justice said in his petition that some files were removed from his chamber on the day he was suspended,” the lawyer, Tariq Mehmood, said. “He (Hammad) was under pressure,” he said.

Chaudhry has been at the centre of a judicial crisis since Musharraf decided to sack him two months ago over undisclosed allegations of misconduct. Analysts speculated Musharraf’s motive is aimed at removing a possible obstacle should his plans for re-election run into constitutional challenges. Hammad was briefly detained on March 9, the day Chaudhry was suspended, Malik said. Supreme Court’s additional registrar Syed Hamad Amjad Raza was shot dead by four men who broke into his house before dawn on Monday. Talking to Dawn, a police officer claimed that the murder had been committed by robbers, but Mr Hammad Raza’s widow Shabana, a witness to the killing, said it was a target killing. She alleged that the government and agencies were involved in the murder.

She said that she saw several policemen lurking around in the lawn of her house when she ran out crying for help, but they did nothing to catch the culprits. She vowed to do everything possible to bring those responsible to justice.

Her brother, Abid Hussain Shah, also insisted that it was not a case of robbery, because nothing had been found missing from the house, except two cellphones. “It’s a target killing and a message to judges,” he said.

Soon after the murder, judges of the Supreme Court, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, visited Mr Raza’s house and, taking suo motu action, ordered the Inspector General of Police and the Senior Superintendent of Police of Islamabad to appear before the court on Tuesday.

“We will supervise the police investigation and will take care of the family,” Justice Javed Iqbal told reporters.

“Law and order is deteriorating in the country and it is a moment to think for everybody,” he said.

IGP Iftikhar Ahmad told Dawn that a seven-member police team had been constituted to investigate the murder “on different lines”.

Two officers of the British High Commission, Consular Albert David and Helen Rawlins, also visited Mr Raza’s house and talked to the widow who is a British national.

When asked about their meeting with Ms Shabana, the diplomats said that being a British national “she had requested us to provide her security” but gave no details.

According to the family, four people broke into Mr Raza’s official residence through the kitchen window at around 4.15am. They overpowered his parents who lived on the ground floor, tied them up and asked them about Mr Raza.

Syed Amjad Ali Mashedi Rizvi, father of Mr Raza, said the intruders held the teenage housemaid Ashee at gunpoint and forced her to take them upstairs to Mr Hammad’s bedroom.

“As my husband responded to the knocks and opened the door, we saw four clean-shaven men in trousers and shalwar kameez. They were aged between 28 and 35. One of them was holding a pistol and another carried a knife. On seeing Hamad, the gunman shot him in the head and fled,” Ms Shabana said.

She said she ran downstairs crying for help and was surprised to see some policemen in the lawn. They did not do anything. However, police officer Shaukat Pervaiz, a neighbour, responded to her screams. SP Pervaiz, who is detailed with the prime minister’s security squad, shouted at a police patrol, standing about 100 feet away from his house, to catch the culprits but by the time the patrol moved the attackers had disappeared.

Security agencies had questioned Mr Raza for four days after the removal of Chief Justice Iftikhar.

Acting Chief Justice Rana Bhagwandas visited the residence of Mr Raza, who served as a DMG officer in Balochistan before being brought to the Supreme Court by Justice Iftikhar.

The acting chief justice directed the registrar of the Supreme Court to make arrangements with regard to burial and other matters and prepare a compensation package for the widow and children of the deceased.

Asif Shahzad adds from Lahore: Mr Raza was buried in Lahore’s Allama Iqbal Town.

Talking to Dawn, Intizar Mehdi, a cousin of the deceased, alleged that it was a target killing. “The moment Hamad opened the door, the intruders shot him in the head without having any argument,” he said, adding that the robbers would not act the way the killers had. There was a lot of jewellery and cash in the house but the gunmen had not touched anything, he said.

The deceased is survived by the wife and three children.

Bio

Syed Hamad Raza born in Sharaqpur district Shekhupura central punjab. He did his Masters in International Relations from Qaid-e-Azam University Islamabad with gold medal and later passed cometition exam to join government civil service.

ee also

* Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry
* 2007 Karachi Riots

External links

* [http://www.civilservice.org.pk/ District Management Group (DMG) Association of Pakistan]
* [http://www.dawn.com/2007/05/24/op.htm#3 Why the best are being lost? by Tasneem Noorani, The Dawn, Pakistan ]
* [http://www.dawn.com/weekly/cowas/cowas.htm The Centre of Gravity by Ardeshir Cowasjee, The Dawn, Pakistan ]
* [http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=7860 Hammad's Last Emails by Ansar Abbasi, The News, Pakistan]
* [http://theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21739412-2703,00.html Slaim Official Central to Musharraf Case by Bruce Loudon, The Australian]
* [http://politicalpakistan.blogspot.com/2007/05/sinister-murder-in-islamabad.html A Sinister Murder in Islamabad by Onlooker, The Glass House]
* [http://www.chowk.com/show_article.cgi?aid=00007964&channel=gulberg In Memory of My Dear Friend by Jarrar Jafari, Chowk, Pakistan ]
* [http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1007/1007588_execution_familys_agony.html "Execution" Family's Agony by Bethan Dorset and Chris Osuh, Manchester Evening News]
* [http://thepost.com.pk/Previuos.aspx?dtlid=98292&src=Dr.%20Aneela%20Z.%20Babar&date=21/05/2007 Paradise Lost, Aneela Z Babar, The Post Opinion Editorial]

Audio and video links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/indepth/cluster/2007/03/070321_justice_nn.shtml# BBC Urdu Video, Murder of Additional Registrar Supreme Court]