June 17, 2008	Tuesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 12, 1429

KARACHI, June 16: The Sindh High Court on Monday adjourned the hearing in a plea pertaining to the kidnapping of two officials of the Military Intelligence by four domestic servants of the former chief minister of Balochistan, Sardar Akhtar Mengal, in April 2006.

The appellants included Nasrullah Mengal, Mehboob Ali Satti, Ghulam Qadir and Ghulam Hyder Langah alias Chappar who were tried and sentenced to life imprisonments on charges of kidnapping Havaldar Qurban Hussain and Lance Naik Fayyaz Ahmed.

According to the prosecution, the accused, at the behest of the chief of the Balochistan National Party (Mengal), Sardar Akhtar Mengal, kidnapped the two intelligence officials at gunpoint and held them hostage.

It is worth mentioning that the case against the main accused, Sardar Akhtar Mengal, had recently been withdrawn by the Sindh government on the directives of the prime minister.

Retired Justice Rasheed A Razvi is representing the appellants/convicts and the adjournment came as he was not available.

The bench comprising Justice Dr Rana M. Shamim and Justice Ghulam Dastagir A. Shahani put off the hearing to a date to be fixed later by the office of the court.

Earlier, an anti-terrorism court had sentenced the four men to a 10-year jail term and imposed a fine of Rs20,000 under Section 7-B of the anti-terrorist act (ATA) for torturing the two army men.

The four men were also handed down a five-year term and a fine of Rs10,000 each under Section 7-H of the ATA for robbing their captives of all their belongings. Another five-year term and a fine of Rs10,000 were given to each under Section 7-I of the ATA for causing obstruction in the execution of official duties.However, the four convicts opted to contest the case.