KARACHI: Two brothers get death sentence for PIDC blast
By Tahir Siddiqui
KARACHI, May 31: An anti-terrorism court sentenced on Thursday two accused to death in the PIDC bomb blast case. Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5 also handed down multiple terms, including life, to Mangla Khan and Aziz Khan, two brothers arrested the next day of the blast that killed four private security guards and wounded 21 others.
The two accused remained calm and composed as the judge read out the conviction order to them in the open court at around 3.15pm.
The two brothers were condemned to death on each count of murder and sentenced to 10 years in jail on each count of injuring people. They were also sentenced, under Section 3 of the Explosive Act, 1908, to life in jail for possessing and using the explosive material.
The grandson of the late Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, Brahamdakh, and nephew of the slain Baloch leader, Abdul Majeed Bugti, were declared proclaimed offenders in the case. The judge ordered the case against them be kept in “dormant files” till their arrest.
Four security guards were killed and 21 others wounded when a powerful car bomb exploded at around 8.45am in front of the PIDC House, a multi-storey building also housing offices of the Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL).
The accused, who were arrested in Gulshan-i-Iqbal on a tip-off, allegedly carried out the bomb blast on the instruction of Akbar Bugti to punish the PPL for “not recruiting the local youth of Balochistan”.
The explosion caused extensive damage to a fast-food outlet, bank branches on the ground floor and offices on upper floors of the building. At least 25 vehicles were destroyed and eight others were damaged. Windowpanes of the adjoining buildings, including a five-star hotel and Dawood Centre, were shattered.
The KFC outlet and the adjacent Muslim Commercial Bank branch were destroyed while branches of three other banks were damaged.
The judge sentenced the two accused to rigorous imprisonment for 10 years and a fine of Rs50,000 each for causing damages to public and private properties. Another five-year term and a fine of Rs50,000 was handed down to them for creating panic and a sense of insecurity among people.
The bomb contained improvised explosives and the blast made a crater one-and-a-half-foot deep and four feet in diameter. The car in which the bomb was planted was stolen on Sept 28, 2005 in Khairpur.
Two security guards, Sabz Ali and Iftikhar Ahmad, on duty at the MCB branch, were killed on the spot. Two other security guards, Jawed Iqbal and Noor Rehman, who were posted at the PIDC House and KFC, died later in hospital.
The judge also ordered the two accused to pay Diyat of Rs200,000 each to the family of each security guard.
Special public prosecutor Mazhar Qayyum examined 35 prosecution witnesses, including two eyewitnesses. He said the accused were convicted because the prosecution brought sufficient evidence against them. He said the depositions of the two eyewitnesses -- Zahir Shah, a taxi driver, and ASI Mohammad Ashraf -- and judicial confession of the accused before a judicial magistrate were the main pieces of evidence that led to the conviction.
Defence counsel M. R. Syed said the conviction of his clients would be challenged in the Sindh High Court.
KARACHI, May 31: An anti-terrorism court sentenced on Thursday two accused to death in the PIDC bomb blast case. Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5 also handed down multiple terms, including life, to Mangla Khan and Aziz Khan, two brothers arrested the next day of the blast that killed four private security guards and wounded 21 others.
