A sessions court in Islamabad convicted two men, Bait Ullah and Gul Siddique, for the murder of Major Mohammad Laraib of the Special Services Group (SSG) last year.

Additional sessions judge Muhammad Ali Warriach sentenced Baitullah to death while Gul Siddique was handed life imprisonment. The judge also imposed a fine of Rs500,000 on each of the accused.

Maj Laraib was stationed in Attock and had come to the capital in an official capacity. After finishing his duty, he was meeting a friend in G-9 when he was murdered on Nov 21, 2019. Police officials had arrested two suspects the next month by mobile phone tracing.

The verbal order in the case was given two days ago. In a written order issued on Saturday, the judge noted police had recovered an empty shell of a 30-bore pistol from the crime scene.

When Siddique was arrested and searched, he also had a 30-bore pistol on him, the verdict said. During his physical remand, Bait Ullah revealed details which led the police to another 30-bore pistol, which forensic tests showed was the weapon used to commit the crime.

Further revelations by both suspects also led the police to recover the major's original computerised national identity card (CNIC), Rs2,000 which were stolen from him and a brown purse that belonged to the deceased's friend, the judgment said.

It also made note of the the officer's friend's testimony in which she said that on the night of Nov 21, 2019, Maj Laraib had picked her up from her hostel and they had gone to have coffee, and later to the F-9 park.

While they were in the park, both suspects appeared and Bait Ullah asked the major to "hand over whatever you have". She said Bait Ullah had kicked the major twice and asked him to hand over his wallet. However, upon his resistance, Bait Ullah shot the major in the head.

"From what has been discussed, I am of the opinion that both accused in furtherance of their common intention while committing robbery committed Qatl-e-Amd of Major Laraib, hence they are held guilty and convicted u/s 302-6/34 PPC as Tazeer read with 397," the judge wrote.

"The recovery of snatched articles (purse and CNIC) have also proved against both the accused persons. They are also held guilty of retaining stolen property and are convicted u/s 411 PPC," the order stated.