Pakistani FM: Legal Process Into Iranian Diplomat's Murder Not Over

October 21, 2000 - 0:0
TEHRAN Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said on Friday that the legal process into the 1997 killing of an Iranian diplomat in central Multan town was not yet over following overturning of a guilty verdict against eight men by country's top court, a DPA report from Islamabad said.
"The Supreme Court verdict is very clear but I will say the legal avenues and process has not yet been exhausted on this matter," Foreign Ministry spokesman told reporters in Islamabad.
The Pakistani official's comments came in the wake of the Islamic Republic of Iran's protest over Supreme Court ruling on Monday throwing out the death penalty handed down by antiterrorism court and subsequently upheld by the provincial court for the murder of Muhammad-Ali Rahimi.
Some eleven Iranians were martyred in Pakistan by terrorist groups during the past 10 years.
The Pakistani government has not taken any serious measure to arrest and punish the culprits involve in the assassinations.
The Pakistani Ambassador to Tehran Javid Hussein was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday to convey Iran's protest about acquittal of suspects accused of assassination.
The Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman said, "We understand the concerns of the Iranian government that those responsible for the heinous crime of assassination of one of their diplomats should be punished." The defendants were the members of Sunni Muslim militant group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.