KARACHI, June 7: Judge Feroze Mahmood Bhatti of the anti-terrorism court No. 2 convicted on Saturday a worker of a banned religious outfit in a bomb blast case, and sentenced him to three terms totalling 30 years.

The judge, who conducted the trial inside the Central Prison, also ordered the forfeiture of entire movable and immovable properties of Sabir Waseem, worker of the banned Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP).

The worker was prosecuted for launching an anti-tank rocket (BM-107) that had pierced through the wall of the Commerce College on the Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road on November 23, 2001.

Accused Waseem, who had reached near the college to target some Americans at the second and third floors of Sheraton Hotel, was sentenced to suffer a 10-year term under section 4 of the Explosive Substances Act.

He was sentenced to another 10-year term under section 7 (b) of the Anti-Terrorist Act. The judge also imposed a fine of Rs50,000 on the convict who would have to undergo an additional six-month term in case of default on the payment.

The religious party worker was handed down a 10-year term under section 7 (d) of the ATA and section 427 of the Pakistan Penal Code. He was fined Rs50,000 and he would have to suffer an additional six-month term in case of default on the payment.

Accused Sabir Waseem and his absconding accomplice Asif Ramzi, carrying the rocket and its locally-made launcher in a kit bag, reached near the hotel on a motorbike around 9:30pm. The two positioned the launcher on the pushcart of a junk vendor. While accused Waseem was still trying to position the launcher to the hotel, the rocket was detonated due to short circuit and hit the wall of the Commerce College. It landed in a classroom making an eight-inch hole in the wall.

According to the bomb disposal squad, the device was an anti-tank rocket, weighing 25 kilograms with 10 to 12 kgs of explosive material.

Waseem was arrested red-handed during a shootout with the police following an attack on a prisoners’ van, which was carrying among others Dilawar Hussain, a worker of the banned Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan.

Two people, including a constable, Shakil, were killed when the prisoners’ van, also carrying some sectarian activists, was ambushed on February 28 this year near Bohra Pir within the limits of Nabi Bux police. Ramzi and two others, Ata-ur-Rahman and Naeem Bukhari, were declared absconders in this case.

During the interrogation, the police found the lower body of Waseem severely burnt. He disclosed before the police that he was himself injured while firing the rocket.

PLOT TO KILL: An anti-terrorism court put off the hearing of a case pertaining to a plot to kill President Pervez Musharraf following the statement of two prosecution witnesses.