Barrister Shakir's family rejects murderer's mercy appeal

The family of slain Barrister Shakir Latif did not respond to the appeal made through an intermediary by the family of his kidnapper, Shaikh Amjad, last month.
"I have no knowledge of any fresh effort in this regards", said an in-law of Shaikh Amjad, who also visited him on Monday afternoon.
Shaikh Amjad will be executed in Central Prison at 5.30 am on Thursday. Anti-Terrorism Court-III Judge Arshad Noor Khan has already issued 'Black Warrant' of the 57-year-old businessman as the President has also turned down his appeal for mercy.
Shaikh was convicted by the ATC on October 3, 2001 for kidnapping and killing Shakir Latif.
Latif was kidnapped a few days of his arrival from England by his neighbour Shaikh Amjad on July 29, 2001, near a five-star hotel and was poisoned to death. His body was recovered from an abandoned car in Defence area by the police.
Shaikh was arrested red-handed when he was negotiating a deal with the victim's family from a public phone booth.
His mercy appeals were also rejected by the Sindh High Court (SHC) and the Supreme Court in 2002 and 2003, respectively.
Meanwhile, in a December 6, 2003 letter written from the death cell of he Central Prison to the Edhi Foundation, Shaikh Amjad said he was donating his eyes and kidneys to any person in need.
Talking to APP, Rizwan Edhi said they were making final arrangements with the concerned doctors for post-execution operation of Shaikh Amjad.
"We will finalise the arrangements definitely by Tuesday evening," he said.
The Superintend-dent of Central Prison, Karachi, Ashraf Nizamani told APP on Monday that all was set to hang Shaikh Amjad till death on March 4.
He said there was no positive development yet about his mercy appeals which were all rejected.
The kidnapping for ransom cases are all handled by the Anti-Terrorism Courts since 1997 and Under Section 365-A, the kidnapper could get life imprisonment as minimum and death penalty as maximum punishment.
The law was necessitated when kidnappers played havoc with the life of people particularly in Karachi and other parts of the province and cases of abduction were order of the day.