10 February 2004	Tuesday	18 Zilhaj 1424

RAWALPINDI, Feb 9: The special anti-terrorism court (ATC) No-2 here on Monday handed down life imprisonment to a person after finding him guilty of kidnapping a resident of Taxila for ransom.

The judge, Safdar Hussain Malik, in his verdict, also observed that all the property belonging to the convict, Azhar Shahzad, would be confiscated. The prosecution had contended before the court that the convict had kidnapped a person, Hafiz Waqar, from Taxila and demanded Rs9 million ransom from his family. He had also threatened to kill Hafiz Waqar on non-payment of ransom.

However, the police succeeded in arresting the convict and also recovered the kidnapped person. The court also observed that the prosecution had failed to produce evidence against five co-accused, Khawar, Maula Bakhsh, Wasim Shahid, Saeed Akhtar and Ghulam Murtaza, and exonerated them of the charges.