KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Friday set aside death sentence awarded by an antiterrorism court to a man in a case pertaining to murder of four people, including Muttahida Qaumi Movement lawmaker Syed Manzar Imam, in 2013 in Karachi.

A two-judge bench headed by Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha allowed an appeal filed by Mohammad Ashiq Khan, who had challenged the trial court’s conviction order passed in July 2018.

The MQM leader along with his two police guards — Sajjad and Imran — and personal guard Murad were killed in an attack on his vehicle at Hyderi Chowk in Orangi Town in January 2013.

The trial court had also ordered Khan to pay a Rs400,000 fine. The court also handed him five-year rigorous imprisonment in an arms case.

The SHC bench extended the benefit of the doubt to appellant Ashiq Khan as it found the testimony of a sole eyewitness, Ashfaq, doubtful since it was recorded before the police and judicial magistrate around three years after the commissioning of the offence.

In his statement before the judicial magistrate, the witness had identified the appellant as one of the shooters, who shot at Mr Imam and three others, who later succumbed to their wounds in hospital.

The bench answered in negative a reference sent by the trial court seeking confirmation of the death sentence awarded to the appellant.

It ordered the prison authorities to release the appellant, forthwith, if his custody was not required in any other case.

Ashiq Khan moved an appeal through his counsel Amir Mansoob Qureshi, who argued that the prosecution’s case contained glaring contradictions as the eyewitness’ statement was recorded after a delay of around three years after the incident took place.

It was further contended that the appellant was detained by the Rangers in 2015 and kept under 90-days preventive detention before being handed over to the police, which framed him in the present case.

The counsel further argued that the investigating officer failed to produce the entries regarding alleged recovery of the pistol used in the commissioning of the offence on the information given by the appellant, as claimed by the prosecution.

Therefore, the court was asked to set aside the impugned conviction order of the trial court in the cases pertaining to the alleged murder of the four persons and an arms case and order his release.

According to the prosecution, the Rangers arrested Ashiq Khan in Taiser Town in September 2015 and placed him under three-month preventive detention.

It also named Saqib, Pervez, Shafqat, alias Marshal, and some unidentified persons as absconders in the murder case.

Initially, the police believed that the legislator was killed on sectarian basis as the banned militant outfit Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan had claimed responsibility for the murder.

A statement issued by the paramilitary force after the arrest stated that the detained man belonged to the MQM-Altaf group.

After the end of his preventive detention, the Rangers handed him over to the Orangi Town police.

The police booked him along with his absconding accomplices in a case registered under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 407 (criminal breach of trust by carrier, etc) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

Separately, he was also booked in a case for possessing illicit arms registered under Section 23(1)(a) of the Sindh Arms Act, 2013.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2019