KARACHI, May 4: The High Court of Sindh on Friday dismissed an appeal and upheld the life imprisonment and other punishments awarded to a convict by an anti-terrorism court for the killing and wounding of policemen.

The appellant/convict, Ghulam Qadir Patni, was awarded life term and other punishments by ATC No 3, headed by Judge Syed Saghar Hussain Zaidi, on January 31, 2006.

According to details of the case, two policemen had suspected the appellant of involvement in crime while he and absconding co-accused Shaukat were riding a motorcycle in the limits of the Baghdadi police on March 23, 2005, and asked them to stop, but they opened fire on the policemen.

The incident left Constable Jahangir Minhas dead and Constable Ansar Mehmood wounded. The accused also took away the SMG riffle of the victim, Jahangir.

The division bench comprising Justice Mohammad Afzal Soomro and Justice Rehmat Hussain Jaffery, after hearing the arguments, dismissed the appeal of the convict and maintained the judgment of the trial court.

Shops’ construction: The High Court of Sindh on Friday sought the appearance of the deputy controller of buildings to explain about the building of shops without an approved plan and the conversion of a residential portion of land into a commercial one.

A division bench comprising Justice Amir Hani Muslim and Justice Yasmeen Abbasey has also directed the nazir of the SHC to inspect the site in question.

The petitioner, Abdullah, moved the court against the erection of alleged illegal shops on a portion of the land known as Qasr-i-Siddique on Haji Mohammad Yousuf Road, Nawabad in Lyari, near the Khadda Fish Market, by the authority concerned.

The bench has sought explanation from the officer concerned about allowing the erection of the alleged illegal shops without a Karachi Building Control Authority approved plan.

The bench has also directed the nazir to inspect the site and spell out in his report the status and stage of the construction.

Adjourning the matter for 15 days, the court further directed that in the intervening period, no further construction on the ground floors shall be carried out.—APP