LAHORE: A Lahore High Court division bench on Wednesday dismissed appeal of Hijratullah against his conviction in the Manawan Police Training School attack in 2009.

An anti-terrorism court jailed him for 10 years for attempting to destroy a military helicopter during an operation.

The prosecution said Hijratullah along with other terrorists on March 30, 2009, attacked the police training school. At least 22 police personnel were killed and 100 others injured in the attack.

It said security personnel arrested Hijratullah outside the school when he was about to destroy a military helicopter with a hand grenade. The personnel recovered the hand grenade as well as a dagger from his possession.

Hijratullah admitted before the interrogators that Baitullah Mehsood had instructed him to carry out the attack, the prosecution said.

However, the defence counsel said police had arrested Hijratullah only for point-scoring. He said his client had no links with the attack on the training school. He asked the bench to set aside the sentence and acquit the appellant.

After hearing both sides, the bench dismissed the appeal and upheld the sentence.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2015

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