January 13, 2008	Sunday	Muharram 03, 1429

KARACHI, Jan 12: An Anti-terrorism Court on Saturday awarded a life term to a man found guilty of killing a policeman during an encounter about seven years back.

The court, headed by Abdul Ghafoor Memon, convicted Rehmat Ali and ruled that the prosecution had proved its case beyond any doubt. The court also imposed a fine of Rs100,000 on the convict.

It acquitted two co-accused, Jamil Hussain and Sirajul Islam, citing lack of evidence against them.

Special public prosecutor Mazhar Qayyum said that a total 14 prosecution witnesses deposed in the case and two of them identified Rehmat Ali in an identification parade.

According to the prosecution, a police party raided a hideout of criminals in Manghopir police area on Nov 29, 2000. An encounter took place between the two sides and a constable, Furqan Baig, was killed while another one, Raza Hussain, sustained injuries. The accused managed to escape. A case was registered on the complaint of Asghar Ali, a member of the raiding team and the accused were arrested in 2001.

Mr Qayyum said that the police had submitted the final challan of the case to a district and session judge where the case was pending a trail. It was only in the early 2007 that the judge transferred the case to the ATC as a case involving murder of a policeman could be tried only by an ATC.