KARACHI: An antiterrorism court has sentenced a man to life in prison on two counts in a 2012 sectarian killing case.

Mushtaq Shah alias Shah Jee was found guilty of killing Syed Ather Hussain, the caretaker of two Imambargahs, and wounding his younger brother Syed Mazhar Hussain within the jurisdiction of the Shah Latif Town police station.

On Tuesday, the ATC-XII judge, who conducted the trial in the judicial complex inside the central prison, pronounced his verdict reserved after recording evidence and final arguments from both sides.

The judge noted that the deceased was the custodian of two Imambargahs and no other reason was surfaced for the targeted killing except to spread sectarianism.

The judge handed down life imprisonment on charges of premeditated murder and terrorism.

The court acquitted co-accused Waqas alias Basra by extending him the benefit of doubt.

State prosecutors Tahir Hussain Mangi and Kamran submitted that the accused was identified by an eyewitness, who was also complainant in the present case, during an identification parade conducted before a judicial magistrate, wherein the former had assigned the specific role that the latter along with three others had opened fire and killed the victim on Dec 29, 2012.

They added that the accused had targeted the victim while he was returning home from Green Town in a Toyota Hilux.

The prosecutors argued that four unknown armed men pillion riding two motorcycles had suddenly emerged there and opened indiscriminate firing on the occupants of the vehicle with pistols and managed to flee.

In his statement, recorded under Section 342 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the accused denied his involvement in the incident as well as recovery of the 9mm pistol from him and said that the same were managed by the prosecution as nothing was recovered from his possession. However, he failed to produce any witness in his defence.

He deposed that the law enforcement agencies personnel had arrested him from his house on Feb 28, 2012, but showed his arrest in 2014. He added that he was acquitted in other cases by different courts, except in the present one.

A case was registered under Section 302 (premeditated murder), 324 (attempted murder), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 379 (punishment for theft) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 at the Shah Latif police station on complaint of the victim’s brother, Syed Rizwan Hussain.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2022