KARACHI, Oct 11: An anti-terrorism appellate bench of the Sindh High Court set aside the death penalty awarded to three alleged militants of an outlawed sectarian outfit for double murder and ordered their acquittal and release if not wanted in any other case.
Appellants Akram Lahori, Ataullah and Mohammad Azam of Sipah-i-Sahaba were convicted and sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court for the murder of Anwar Ali Tirmizi and Zulfiqar Haider on March 11, 2002. According to the prosecution, Zulfiqar Haider came to see Anwar Ali Tirmizi and knocked at the door of his house in Shah Faisal Colony. Anwar’s brother, Babar Ali Tirmizi, answered the knock and told Zulfiqar that he was having his meal and would see him shortly. Anwar Tirmizi came out soon afterwards to meet Zulfiqar accompanied by Babar.
In the meanwhile, three persons riding a motorcycle reached the spot. Two of them, Ataullah and Mohammad Azam, armed with a Kalashnikov rifle and a pistol, respectively, alighted and shouted abusive words. Akram Lahori, carrying a pistol, remained seated on the motorcycle. They fired at the Tirmizi brothers and Zulfiqar from a close range. Anwar Tirmizi and Zulfiqar were fatally wounded and died in hospital while Babar was injured. Police reached the hospital and registered a first information report on Babar’s complaint. Thirteen witnesses, including two eyewitnesses, were examined by ATC Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch, who convicted all three accused and sentenced them to death.
The convicts challenged their conviction and sentences through Advocates Mohammad Ashraff Kazi, Sarfraz Khan Tanoli and M.R. Syed. The counsel argued that the statements of both the eyewitnesses were recorded two or three days later while they were available on the scene of occurrence and also at the hospital. The prosecution failed to explain the delay and the inescapable conclusion was that the eyewitness accounts were improved and tampered with in order to support the prosecution case. The complainant’s version was also subsequently improved.
The appellate bench, which consisted of Justices Rehmat Hussain Jaferi and Khilji Arif Hussain, allowed the appeals and acquitted the accused by a short order for reasons to be recorded later.
Pakistan Steel put on notice
A division bench of the Sindh High Court issued notice to the Pakistan Steel management in a petition alleging discrimination in promotions.
Eleven petitioners submitted through Advocate Abdul Razzak they had 15 years of service as assistant managers to their credit while the seven years’ service was sufficient to qualify them for promotion as deputy managers. Their juniors, who were also academically less qualified, were promoted. The management also changed the promotion criterion retrospectively to deprive them of their vested right. They approached the Federal Service Tribunal but were excluded from the FST jurisdiction by a Supreme Court order of June 2006.
The petitioners claimed that they were told that their appointments were initially questionable having been made ‘for political grounds’. Inquiries were instituted against them to justify the management’s decision. They requested the court to order the PS to produce their annual confidential reports, the minutes of the promotion committee and the board of directors’ approval for the new promotion policy. The management should be directed to promote them after perusal of the court submitted to it.
A division bench consisting of Justices Mushir Alam and Arshad Siraj directed that a notice be issued to the PS management for a date in office.
Meanwhile, another division bench comprising Justices Maqbool Baqar and Mrs Yasmin Abbasy issued a notice to the Sui Southern Gas Company in a petition moved by three of its sacked meter readers. Advocate Mansoorul Haq Solangi argued on behalf of the petitioners that they were recruited in 1995 and dismissed from service a year later without being assigned any reason. They were reinstated under a Supreme Court order in 1997 but were again sacked later that year along with a number of other employees, who again approached the Supreme Court and obtained the relief of reinstatement
The lawyer said 600 employees of the respondent company had been reinstated under a recent SC order and under the apex court’s own judgment in another cases, the reinstatement order should cover the non-litigant employees placed in identical circumstances but the respondent company was reluctant to tack them back.
Order reserved
A Sindh High Court division bench reserved on Thursday its order on bail applications moved by the Bawan Shah Group chief and the officials of the sales tax department.
Bawan Shah Group of Companies chairman Raja Zaraat Khan and 24 others are being prosecuted by the National Accountability Bureau for allegedly fraudulent sales tax rebates, depriving the public exchequer of huge sums. The bench, which consisted of Justices Mohammad Afzal Soomro and Rehmat Husain Jaferi, heard the arguments of Advocates Raja Qureshi, Iqtidar Ali Hashmi and Raza Hashmi for the applicants and NAB deputy prosecutor-general Shafaat Nabi Khan Sherwani for the prosecution. Reserving its order, the bench asked the counsel to submit a gist of their cases in writing.
