KARACHI, Feb 26: The Sindh High Court issued on Thursday a notice to the attorney-general in an application questioning the shifting of murder convict Ahmad Omar Shaikh from the Hyderabad jail to Punjab.
The application has been moved in an appeal by the convict against the judgment of an anti-terrorism court in the Daniel Pearle kidnap-cum-murder case. Omar was sentenced to death and three co-accused were jailed for life.
They were also sentenced to pay fines and compensation and serve jail terms on other counts. All the accused challenged their conviction and sentences, while the prosecution filed an appeal for the enhancement of the life terms of the co-accused to death penalty.
A division bench comprising Justices Ghulam Nabi Soomro and M. Mujibullah Siddiqui asked the provincial government whether applicant Omar Shaikh had been taken to Punjab.
A law officer submitted that he was shifted on a directive from the federal government. The bench asked him to produce the directive and inform it where the convict was confined.
Advocate-General Anwar Mansoor Khan told the bench on Thursday that the applicant had been kept at an undisclosed location and would be brought back when he was no longer required. The bench issued the attorney-general a notice for March 18 after hearing the advocate-general.
The same bench heard arguments in appeals against the conviction of former navy chief Mansoorul Haq and commodore (retd) Ashfaq Baig. Both the appellants were produced in the court on Thursday to assist their counsel in technical matters.
Barrister Azizullah Shaikh advanced his arguments on behalf of commodore Baig while Advocate Iqtidar Hashmi would make his submissions on behalf of the former navy chief on March 4, the next date of hearing.
