LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court on Wednesday awarded death sentence on five counts each to three facilitators of a suicide attack at Wagah Border in 2014 that claimed around 70 lives and injured over a 100.

Presiding Judge Ejaz Ahmad Buttar also handed down life imprisonment and a collective jail term of 300 years to each in addition to fine of Rs4 million on each convict, including Haseenullah alias Haseena, his brother Habibullah and Said Jan alias Gajni.

The judge announced the verdict in the presence of the convicts and handed them over to the superintendent of Kot Lakhpat Central Jail.

As per the verdict, the convicts were awarded death sentence on three counts under Section 302(b) of the PPC, and on a single count each under Section 7(a) of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 and Section 6 of Explosive Substance Act 1908. They were also awarded life imprisonment under Section 7(c) of ATA and 10-year jail term on 30 counts under Section 324 of the PPC.

The verdict stated that the sentences of death shall not be executed unless confirmed by the Lahore High Court.

The Jamaatul Ahrar, a splinter group of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), had claimed responsibility for the attack.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2020