KARACHI: An antiterrorism court has sentenced a hitman — allegedly associated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement — to life imprisonment in a case pertaining to the murder of six people in Azizabad in 2003.

The accused Ahmed Saeed, alias Saeed Bharam, was found guilty of murdering Syed Saeed Ahmed, Syed Tayyab Hussain, Syed Mazhar Hussain, Qari Mohammad Yaqoob, Mohammad Jibran and Mohammad Noman Khan along with his accomplices due to personal enmity in Azizabad on Sept 2, 2003.

The judge of the ATC-X, who conducted the trial, pronounced his judgement reserved after recording evidence and final arguments from both sides.

The judge handed down life imprisonment to him on the count of murder and ordered to pay Rs100,000 in compensation to the legal heirs of each victim. On default, he would undergo one-year additional imprisonment.

The judge also awarded him 10-year jail on count of attempted murder and ordered to pay Rs100,000 fine. On default, he would undergo one-year additional jail.

The court extended the benefit of Section 382-B (period of detention to be considered while sentencing) of the criminal procedure code to the convict.

All sentences will run concurrently.

According to the prosecution, Saeed Bharam along with his four named and 10 to 12 unidentified accomplices had shot dead the people in indiscriminate firing due to enmity.

The judge noted in the judgment that prosecution witness Syed Imran Imam Zaidi, the then judicial magistrate-XI (South), deposed that he had recorded confessional statement of the accused under Section 164 of the CrPC after observing all formalities.

Saeed Bharam admitted that he along with Faisal Lamba, Waseem Abbas, Waseem Commando, Haider Gaddi and 10 to 12 other workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement killed the six people by opening fire on them in Azizabad.

In his statement, under Section 342 of CrPC, Ahmed Saeed denied the allegations and claimed innocence in the present case.

His defence counsel Mushtaq Ahmed contended that the accused was arrested at Karachi airport on March 21, 2006 and was taken into preventive detention by the Rangers during which his alleged confessional statement was recorded.

State prosecutor Farhana Parveen argued that there was sufficient evidence to connect the role of the accused with the commissioning of the allegations levelled against him.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2020