LAHORE, May 11: Malik Bashiruddin and his nephew were on Wednesday convicted of preparing fake travel documents and sending people abroad on them. Special Judge Central Muhammad Hanif Khan sentenced Malik Bashiruddin and his nephew Malik Anees to a collective 14-year rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs200,000 each.
The two relatives have been convicted under section 18 (preparation of fake documents) and section 22 (sending people abroad on doctored documents) of the Immigration Ordinance of 1979. They have been sentenced to seven years each under each section. Both the sentences will run concurrently.
In case of non-payment of fine, the convicts will have to undergo an additional six-month RI for each offence.
Federal Investigation Agency Assistant Director (Legal) Muhammad Waris pleaded the case in which advocates Malik Iftikhar and Amjad Farooq Bismal represented the convicts.
“Malik Bashiruddin is the king of human traffickers,” Mr Waris quoted the judge as having said during the trial. Both the convicts were chargesheeted in August 2004, he said.
FIA Deputy Director (Passport Cell) Azhar Mahmood told Dawn that the conviction of top human smuggler would immensely help control the menace. “It will boost the confidence of the FIA,” he added.
Convict Bashir’s family, however, said it would move the Lahore High Court against the decision.
Malik Bashir, who is known for running a human trafficking network within and outside the country, was arrested in May 2003 after his bail was rejected by the LHC.
He was booked under the Immigration Ordinance of 1979 and the Human Trafficking Ordinance of 2002. The case under the latter is still pending with court.
Some 12 cases have already been registered with the FIA offices in Karachi and Rawalpindi.
During his arrest, Malik Bashiruddin had allegedly exerted pressure on the FIA for providing him relief on medical grounds. While on judicial remand, he used to visit private and public hospitals for check-up and sometimes stayed there with the alleged connivance of the police and the FIA officials.
Official files containing records of cases against him were also stolen last year from the vehicle of an FIA official. A case was registered against unidentified men with the Qila Gujjar Singh police station.
An assistant director (immigration) was suspended from service in 2003 on the charges of helping Bashir’s clients after receiving Rs2 million bribe. The officer has now been reinstated.
Known as a wizard in picture changed passports, Malik Bashir used to operate the human smuggling network from Dubai while his accomplices had been active here. He also used to return money to his clients if he failed to send them abroad.
Malik Bashiruddin lived in a small house in Urdu Bazaar when he had joined the human smuggling mafia as a part time agent about 22 years ago.