November 7, 2001	Wednesday	Shaba’an 20, 1422

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ISLAMABAD, Nov 6: The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered that two persons acquitted by the Sindh High Court of the charges of murdering an army man in Karachi in 1998, be re-arrested immediately and they shall remain in prison till the appeal of the State against their acquittal was decided by the Supreme Court.

“Non-bailable warrants of arrest be issued against respondents, Muhammad Yasin Memon alias Yasin Memon...and Wasim Ahmad Zaidi. After being taken into custody, they shall be lodged in the Central Prison Karachi,” the court ordered.

The accused had allegedly attacked an army patrolling party led by Lt. Col Zafar Iqbal on July 27, 1998, killing one army man Fayyaz Ahmad.

An Anti-Terrorism Court awarded death sentence to both the accused. A division bench of the Sindh High Court acquitted both the accused, saying that ocular evidence was not confidence inspiring.

The State, through the Sindh government, challenged the SHC judgment in Supreme Court.

The appeal was taken up on Tuesday by a three-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice Irshad Hasan Khan, Justice Chaudhry Mohammad Arif and Justice Qazi Mohammad Farooq.

The Additional Advocate-General of Sindh, Mr Suleman Habibullah, contended that ocular evidence had not only been furnished by natural witnesses but was also reliable by any standard and was amply corroborated by the arrest of respondents on the spot along with weapons of crime.

He further contended that the high court had misread the evidence and were swayed by technicalities to acquit the respondents. He also placed reliance on certain judgments of the Supreme Court to contend that the grounds of acquittal were “shocking and fanciful to the sense of justice.”

The SC granted leave to appeal to reappraise the evidence with a view to examining the contentions raised by the State in its appeal.