KARACHI: An antiterrorism court on Tuesday handed down a collective sentence of 39-year imprisonment to two men on charges of committing armed robbery, encounter with police and possession of illicit arms.

Muhammad Waseem and Mohsinullah were found guilty of looting three citizens at gunpoint and later engaging in an encounter with police within the jurisdiction of the Gulshan-i-Iqbal police station on May 5, 2020.

On Tuesday, the judge of the ATC-V, 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 act of accused creates sense of fear, insecurity and panic in the mind of general public, therefore, both accused have committed the offence of terrorism,” the judge noted.

“All the accused jointly in furtherance of their common intention arrived with deadly weapons, committed robbery from the complainant and his neighbours, when the complainant went to the Fruit Mandi for purchasing fruit,” the judge wrote in the verdict.

The court awarded them a collective sentence of 39-year imprisonment on counts of committing armed robbery, attempted murder, assault on the law enforcers with unlicensed weapons and causing terrorism.

The judge also sentenced a third accused, Abdul Ghafoor, to seven-year-imprisonment for harbouring the convicts.

They were sent back to the prison to serve out the remainder of their sentences.

The court kept the case against two absconding accused — Najeebullah Khan and Shakir — on dormant file till their arrest or surrender since they had already been declared proclaimed offenders.

According to the prosecution, four men on two motorcycles were busy looting a Suzuki pickup driver and his two neighbours, who were on their way to Fruit Mandi, on May 5, 2020.

In the meantime, a police van arrived there and the accused opened fire at the cops. In the exchange of gunfire, accused Waseem and Imran got injured and were both arrested, it added.

The prosecution said that Imran died later died during treatment at hospital while Mohsinullah and Abdul Ghaffar, who provided shelter to the accused, were also tracked down.

State prosecutor Rizwana Jalib contended that that complainant Bashir Ahmed and his neighbour fully supported the version of the prosecution and rightly identified the recovered property to be belonging to him.

She added that the medical and forensic evidence also proved the role of the accused in the commissioning of the offence.

On the other hand, defence counsel Shabana Chohan and Abdul Lateef Memon contended there were contradictions in the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses, adding that they had concocted the story.

They claimed innocence on behalf of their clients and pleaded the judge to acquit them of the alleged false and fabricated allegations.

Three separate cases were registered under Sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 324 (attempted murder), 392 (punishment for robbery), and 216-A (penalty for harbouring robbers or dacoits) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), Section 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 and Sections 24 and 23(i)-A of the Sindh Arms Act at the Gulshan-i-Iqbal police station.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2022