The attorney general’s office has announced that it would file a review petition against the Supreme Court judgment in the Shahzeb murder case as it was announced without seeking the “position of the attorney general for Pakistan.

“This is despite the instant case having already been adjudicated to be one of constitutional importance by the Supreme Court, which mandates seeking the assistance of the attorney general – as has been sought previously in petitions pertaining to the same matter,” it said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

The apex court acquitted Shahrukh Jatoi and others in the case on Tuesday, almost 10 years after the cold-blooded murder of Shahzeb in Karachi’s posh area which sparked outrage among the people.

Read: Back behind bars: Convict Shahrukh Jatoi shifted to jail following outcry

The statement added that in the case of Muhammad Jibran Nasir v State, Attorney-General for Pakistan Ashtar Ausaf Ali had already contended that the accused persons had committed an act of “egregious terrorism,” and that the impugned acquittal order of the Sindh High Court on November 28, 2017 was “per incuriam in view of the Supreme Court’s own order” that the accused be tired within the ambit of anti-terrorism provisions.

The attorney general’s position was duly accepted in the judgment of the Supreme Court, reported as PLD 2018 SC 351, it said, adding that subsequently convictions of the accused were upheld in appeal by the SHC, following convictions handed down after close consideration of the evidence at a trial by the learned judge, Anti-Terrorism Court No III, Karachi.

“Be that as it may, in the event that the apex court has arrived at an outcome outside of its own previous pronouncements relating to anti-terrorism offences, the attorney-general’s assistance must regardless be sought as to the acceptance of compromise, the scope fisad-fil-arz, and the particular circumstances of the instant case,” it said.