KARACHI, April 26: An anti-terrorism court sentenced on Saturday the chief of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and his two associates to death for three times on three counts of sectarian killings.
Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5, who conducted the trial inside the Central Prison, Karachi, handed down the capital punishment for two times to Mian Mohammed Ajmal, better known as Akram Lahori, Mohammed Azam alias Sharif and Attaullah alias Qasim in a double murder case.
The judge further directed the three convicts to pay Rs200,000 each in compensation to the family of the victims for ”the mental anguish caused to them due to callous act committed by the accused”. The defaulter on the payment will have to undergo imprisonment for one year.
The case pertained to the killing of Anver Tirmizi and Zufiqar Haider in an attack on March 11 last year, in the limits of the Shah Faisal police.
Special public prosecutor Syed Nadeem Hussain Shah examined in all 19 prosecution witness, including three eye-witnesses.
The eye-witnesses were: Baber Ali Tirmizi, brother of deceased Tirmizi, Hasan Raza and Manzoor Hussain, residents of the same vicinity, who also identified the three accused during the identification parades before a judicial magistrate.
Baber Tirmizi, who was also the complainant in the case, deposed that Zulfiqar Haider was a friend of his deceased brother. He said that on the day of the incident his brother’s friend knocked at their door and he had opened the door for him. He said he informed his brother about the arrival of his friend and went to a tailor’s shop in front of his house.
The PW stated that he was standing at the tailor’s when the three accused came there on a motorcycle. He said Lahori remained on the motorbike and the pillion riders, Ataullah and Azam, got down. He said Ataullah was carrying an AK-47 assault rifle (Kalashnikov) and Azam a TT pistol. He said the two armed men first hurled expletives on his brother and his friend and then abruptly opened fire on them.
The prosecution witness said Zulfiqar tried to run away as the attackers opened fire, but Lahori, armed with a TT pistol, got off his motorbike and fired shots at the running victim.
Eye-witness Hasan Raza deposed that he along with other area people, including the two victims, was scheduled to attend a meeting in connection with religious gatherings during Moharrum.
He stated that he with Manzoor Hussain, another eye-witness, was waiting for Anver Tirmizi near in front of the victim’s house when the accused came there and killed the two victims.
“Since the accused persons are active members of Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and the deceased belonged to Shia sect, there was no enmity between the deceased and the accused persons. I have, therefore, no hesitation to believe the statement of Syed Baber Ali that the motive behind the murder was that the deceased belonged to shia sect and were active members of Tehrik Nifaz Fiqa-i-Jafferia and the accused belonged to Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan and hold that the accused persons have committed the instant offence for spreading terror and in order to create sense of fear and insecurity in the minds of people and particularly among the followers of Shia sect of Islam”, the judge remarked in his 23-page verdict.
This was the first judgment by Mr Baloch since he was appointed judge of the ATC.
The judge sentenced the three accused to death for killing Dr Syed Aly Safdar Zaidi of Kidney Centre.
The doctor was shot dead on March 4, last year in his car by two motorcyclists as he stopped at a traffic signal near Sultan Masjid, Khayaban-i-Hafiz, Defence Housing Authority. The Gizri police had registered the case initially against two unknown assailants.
Lahori, Ataullah and Azam with another activist were arrested on June 29, 2002 at around 5am in Phase-I of the DHA by the Anti-terrorist Wing (ATW), headed by Superintendent of Police Farooq Awan, on a tip-off.
The special public prosecutor, Syed Nadeem Hussain Shah, examined in all 16 witnesses, including two eye-witnesses, against the three accused, who mainly belonged to the defunct Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan.
In his 26-page verdict, the judge referred to the depositions of the two eye-witnesses, Abid Razzak, a reporter of a news agency, and Maulana Nazar Mehdi, a tutor of the Qur’an, who had also identified the three accused before a judicial magistrate during separate identification parades.
Eye-witness Razzak stated that he was going on his motorcycle and had stopped behind the doctor’s car at the traffic lights. He said three men, riding on a motorbike, arrived there and opened fire on the victim’s car.
The witness also deposed that he came to know that the victim was Dr Aley Safdar Zaidi through newspaper. He said that on June 26, 2002 he went to the police to give information about the murder. He said he identified the accused on July 3, 2002 during the identification parade before a judicial magistrate.
Maulana Mehdi, the second eye-witness, stated that he was waiting for transport at the traffic signal when he saw the accused coming there on a motorbike and then opening fire on their victim.
He stated that on June 29, 2002 he learnt about the arrest of the accused. He said that on June 28, 2002 he contacted the investigation officer, who recorded his statement the next day.
“The witnesses were cross examined by the learned defence counsel, but nothing favourable to the accused could be brought out of their mouths, except some minor discrepancies, which are bound to happen due to lapse of time. The defence has not suggested any enmity of the prosecution witnesses with the accused persons, therefore, it cannot be said even faintly that the witnesses have any enmity or bias against the accused persons”, the judge observed.
Accused Ataullah was also sentenced to a seven-year term for possessing unlicensed weapon. The judge fined him Rs30,000 and ordered that the convict would have to undergo an additional six-month term in case of default on the payment.
