Killing does not deter Clinton from visiting Pak

WASHINGTON, MARCH 11: United States President Bill Clinton will go ahead with his plan to visit Pakistan during his South Asia trip later ...

WASHINGTON, MARCH 11: United States President Bill Clinton will go ahead with his plan to visit Pakistan during his South Asia trip later this month despite the murder of deposed pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif8217;s lawyer Iqbal Raad in Karachi.

The incident would not mean cancellation of Islamabad from President Bill Clinton8217;s itinerary for South Asia, White House spokesman Joe Lockhart told reporters Friday.

quot;I don8217;t have any of the President8217;s travel plan changes,quot; Lockhart said, condemning the killing as quot;a horrific act of violencequot;.

He reiterated Clinton8217;s brief stopover in Islamabad after his India visit in no way signals America8217;s approval of the military regime in Pakistan.

quot;For anyone who is under that perception that Clinton8217;s visit signals an approval of General Pervez Musharraf8217;s regime, they would be wrong, and we will go great lengths to make sure that the perception is dispelled,quot; Lockhart said.

Asked to comment if the US believes the rule of law exists in Pakistan, Lockhart said: quot;Obviously the Constitution has been suspended. And we have been pressing the Pakistan military government to return to democracy. We8217;ll continue to do that8230; but well, with the Constitution suspended, it makes it difficult to answer that question affirmatively.quot;

Meanwhile, in Islamabad, a day after their colleague was gunned down, nervous defence lawyers for deposed premier Nawaz Sharif said Saturday they want their client8217;s hijacking trial relocated out of Karachi as a 8220;matter of caution8221;.

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Khawaja Sultan Ahmad, chief defence attorney for Sharif in the plane hijacking case, said the daylight murder of Iqbal Raad is not only shocking, but 8220;has scared us and we would like to have the venue of the trial shifted from Karachi either to Lahore or Islamabad as a matter of caution8221;.

The Lahore-based defence team 8220;is staying in a hotel in a city strange to us. There is no security for us in Karachi. We are too vulnerable to such incidents as it is very easy to target us,8221; Ahmad was quoted today by the internet edition of English daily The Dawn as saying.

He said the killing has 8220;created certain suspicions8221; in the minds of the defence counsel. Whether police investigators find the motive behind the gruesome killing or it is termed a blind murder8217;, the defence lawyers will not be able to proceed with the case in Karachi.

The police should investigate the matter and find out if the murder was motivated by political vendetta, he added.

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Raad will be buried later Saturday near his home in Karachi8217;s posh Defence neighbourhood. Paramilitary rangers and heavily armed police are deployed in the area.

So far no connection has been made between the killing and Sharif8217;s hijacking trial.

The autopsy report confirmed that Raad was shot at six times in the chest.

The autopsy, conducted at the Civil Hospital Karachi, also revealed that the former judge8217;s son, Shahzad Khatri and Raad8217;s office peon Ghulam Abbas were shot at once in the head.

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According to official news agency APP, Shahzad had gone to the building located in the port town8217;s commercial district to collect rent, when he fell victim to the gunmen.

A formal first information report in connection with killing has been lodged at the Artillery Maidan police station in the city under several sections of the Penal Code and the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.