KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the provincial home secretary and the superintendent of the Karachi central prison to file comments in a petition of two convicts seeking their release on parole.

Two brothers — Muhammad Shahid and Muhammad Zahid — were found guilty of kidnapping a trader for ransom and sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court. Later, they filed appeals against their conviction and the SHC had converted their capital punishment into life imprisonment.

They moved the SHC against the decision of the home department that rejected their request for release on parole.

The petitioners’ counsel said that his clients were eligible for release on parole as they had spent 10 years in prison. Besides, they got 15-year remission for behaving well in the penitentiary and passing various examinations, including Nazira Quran.

He said that they filed an application before the ATC requesting it to order their release on parole but it referred the matter to the home secretary.

However, the counsel said, the home department through a letter dated Aug 20, 2012 rejected their request stating that they were not eligible for release on parole as they had not served the required period of time.

Dispelling the claim of the home secretary regarding the convicts’ eligibility, he argued that they were eligible to be released on parole as they had undergone 10-year imprisonment and got remissions.

He asked the court to declare the letter of the home department as illegal and order their release on parole. After a preliminary hearing, the court issued notices to the official respondents asking them to submit their comments by Aug 4.

Published in Dawn, July 24th , 2014