KARACHI: An additional district and sessions judge (South) on Tuesday sentenced three accused, including a former policeman, to 15 years’ imprisonment each in a case related to the murder of an activist of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

Bilal Zafar Farooqui, Babar Mumtaz and Yousuf were found guilty of killing Kaleem Ahmed, alias TT, in Liaquatabad in September 2010.

Additional district and sessions judge (South) Sikandar Ameer Pahore read out the conviction order after recording evidence of witnesses and concluding arguments from both sides.

IO investigating Amir Khan, other MQM activists says he is facing security threats

The court handed down 15-year imprisonment to the accused persons and also ordered them to pay Rs100,000 compensation to the legal heirs of the victim. The court also imposed a Rs100,000 fine each on the convicts.

According to the prosecution, gunmen on a motorbike fired multiple shots at Kaleem Ahmed near his home in Liaquatabad No. 9 on Sept 15, 2010. He sustained four bullet wounds and died on the spot.

The victim was associated with Unit 159 of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s organisational structure in Liaquatabad and was the brother of the unit’s in-charge.

His killing was believed to be part of violence ahead of by-elections on a provincial assembly seat in Orangi that had fallen vacant after the assassination of MQM lawmaker Syed Raza Haider.

A case (FIR 437/10) was registered under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 324 (attempt to commit qatl-i-amd) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Liaquatabad police station on a complaint of the victim’s elder brother, Javed Ahmed.

IO refuses to pursue case because of security threat

The trial of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan leader Amir Khan and others in a case pertaining to providing shelter to alleged terrorists took a new turn on Tuesday, when the police investigating officer moved an application to disassociate himself from the case reportedly due to security threats.

The IO, Inspector Mohsin Zaidi, moved an application before the ATC-XVII, stating that he was assigned high-profile cases, including the present one. He further stated that he was facing security threats, but adequate security had not been provided to him due to which he was unable to continue to pursue the case.

The judge, who is conducting the trial at the judicial complex inside the Karachi Central Prison, adjourned hearing of the case.

The senior deputy convener of the MQM-P, former in-charge of security of the now sealed MQM headquarters Nine Zero, Minhaj Qazi with their absconding accomplices were booked for allegedly providing shelter to wanted criminals at Nine Zero in Azizabad and using them for terrorist activities.

Amir Khan, with Minhaj Qazi and others, has already been indicted in the case. However, they all pleaded not guilty and opted to contest the case.

Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, had detained the MQM leader with several others during a pre-dawn raid at and around the party headquarters on March 11, 2015. Amir Khan had later obtained bail in the case.

According to the prosecution, the paramilitary force had arrested Amir Khan and 26 other armed suspects, including Faisal Mehmood alias Mota —who was sentenced to death in absentia in the journalist Wali Babar murder case — during the raid.

It said that the MQM leader was in-charge of the security of the party headquarters and he with five others had allegedly provided shelter to criminals and had been using them for terrorist activities in the city.

A joint investigation team recommended the registration of a case against the MQM leader, it concluded.

A case was registered under Sections 11-V (directing terrorist activities), 21-J (harbouring any person who committed an offence under this act) and 7 (punishment for act of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 on a complaint of a Rangers’ official at the Azizabad police station.

Raees Mamma, Shahzad Mullah, Imran Ijaz Niazi and Naeem alias Mullah have been declared proclaimed officers in the case.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2018