PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench has referred to a larger bench the petition of former agency surgeon Dr Shakil Afridi against the upholding of his conviction by an appellate forum for links with banned militant outfits.

Justice Mussarat Hilali and Justice Syed Arshad Ali observed that a three-member larger bench had already been formed to hear certain categories of cases about the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), so Dr Shakil’s petition should also be heard by it.

A government petition for an increase in the sentence awarded to Dr Shakil by an assistant political agent (APA) in May 2011 was also referred to the larger bench.

Ex-agency surgeon had challenged sentence over links with banned outfits

The revision petition of Dr Shakil remained pending with the Fata Tribunal for around four years before being sent to the high court in 2019 following the merger of tribal areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Advocate Qamar Nadeem Afridi appeared for Dr Shakil and stated that the FCR (Frontier Crimes Regulation) commissioner in 2014 had upheld the conviction of his client for being linked to a banned militant organisation of Bara tehsil but had reduced his prison term slapped by the assistant political agent’s court from 33 years to 23 years and the fine from Rs320,000 to Rs220,000.

Through the revision petition, he stated, Dr Shakil had challenged the commissioner’s decision with the Fata tribunal, which was the third and final judicial forum under the erstwhile FCR.

He pointed out that his client was taken into custody in May 2011 and he would complete 10 years behind the bars in May this year.

He stated that the sentences of Dr Shakil were on three counts and the highest sentence was that of 10 years. He added that if the prison terms were ordered to run concurrently then his client would complete his sentence in May.

He stated that the provisions of law under which their client was convicted could only be invoked with prior permission of the government.

He stated that the sanction of the government was not taken for trying his client under the said provisions of law.

The bench observed that the larger bench had already been conducting hearing in different cases related to ex-Fata.

Justice Syed Arshad Ali observed that he was also a member of the said larger bench.

The bench was constituted few days ago comprising of Justice Lal Jan Khattak, Justice Syed M Attique shah and Justice Syed Arshad Ali.

Dr Shakil was taken into custody in May 2011 by intelligence agencies on the suspicion of arranging a fake vaccination campaign at the behest of American CIA in Abbottabad for tracing Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. However, he was not convicted by the trial court on that charge.

The APA, who was also the additional district magistrate of Bara tehsil in Khyber agency (now tribal district), convicted him on May 23, 2012 for involvement in anti-state activities by supporting the Bara-based banned outfit, Lashkar-i-Islam, and sentenced him on different counts to a total of 33 years’ imprisonment with fine of Rs320,000.

The court convicted him on four counts, including sedition, waging war against Pakistan, concealing design to wage war against Pakistan and condemnation of the creation of Pakistan.

While upholding the conviction, the FCR commissioner had commuted Dr Shakil’s sentence by setting aside the 10 years prison term awarded to him under Pakistan Penal Code’s Section 123-A (condemnation of the creation of Pakistan).

Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2021