ISLAMABAD, MARCH 11: A day after their colleague was gunned down, nervous defence lawyers for deposed premier Nawaz Sharif said on Saturday they want their client's hijacking trial relocated out of Karachi as a `matter of caution'.Khawaja Sultan Ahmad, chief defence attorney for Nawaz Sharif in the plane hijacking case, said the daylight murder of Iqbal Raad is not only shocking, but `it 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 caution'.The Lahore-based defence team `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,' Ahmad was quoted on Saturday by the internet edition of English daily The Dawn as saying.He said the killing has `created certain suspicions' in the minds of the defence counsel. Whether police investigators find the motive behind the gruesome killing or it is termed a `blind murder', 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.Raad was buried later on Saturday near his home in Karachi'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 Sharif's hijacking trial.With the exception of Raad, Sharif's lawyers are from other cities. Raad was a provincial advocate general of southern Sindh province in Sharif's government. He was also the leagal adviser of Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League.Meanwhile, Pakistan' military government on Saturday expressed shock over the killing of Iqbal Raad and two others in Karachi and promised to make thorough investigation into the case.An official spokesman said that no effort would be spared to conduct an immediate enquiry into all aspects of this "terrible incident" and all possible efforts would be made to increase security for both the prosecution and defence lawyers appearing in the trial."Only a conclusive investigation will establish whether there was a personal motive to these murders unrelated to the Nawaz Sharif case," the spokesman said in a statement.He said all proceedings in the plane hijacking case being held in Karachi since December 1999, in which the deposed premier and other co-accused are charged with grave offences, were being conducted "with complete impartiality".Linking the attack with the decision of US President Bill Clinton to visit Pakistan on March 25, he said, "Those very forces who have campaigned directly or indirectly to prevent the visit were extremely disappointed at the success achieved by Pakistan in nullifying hostile moves.""Some action had to be taken by such elements to promote a sense of insecurity about law and order conditions in Pakistan," the spokesman said.Meanwhile, according to an autopsy report Iqbal Raad was shot six times in the chest. It also revealed that the former judge's son, Shahzad Khatri and Raad's office peon Ghulam Abbas were shot once in the head.According to official news agency APP, Shahzad had gone to the building located in the port town's commercial district to collect rent, when he fell victim to the gunmen.A formal FIR 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.
