KARACHI: An antiterrorism court on Monday awarded a collective sentence of 15-year imprisonment and a fine of over Rs1 million to a member of the banned Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) for collecting money to fund its terrorist activities in the country.

Mohammad Uzair was found guilty of collecting Rs2,000 for the banned outfit’s charity wing Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) at Jamia Masjid Aqsa in Nazimabad in November 2020.

On Monday, the ATC-XII judge, who conducted trial in the judicial complex inside the central prison, pronounced his verdict.

The judge noted that the prosecution had successfully proved its case against the accused.

The judge awarded him 10-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs1m for committing an offence punishable under sections 11-H (i) and (ii) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

He also sentenced the accused to five-year imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs10,000 for committing an offence punishable under Section 11-F(5) of the act.

Furthermore, the judge awarded six-month imprisonment and a fine of Rs10,000 to the accused for committing an offence punishable under Section 11-F(2).

In case of default on payment of the fine, he would undergo an additional imprisonment for three years and 10 months collectively.

The court cancelled the bail bond of the accused and sent him to prison to serve out the sentences.

According to the prosecution, Inspector Syed Mohammad Sarfaraz of the Counter-Terrorism Department police station in Garden on a tip-off arrested Uzair and seized two chanda receipt books from him.

It further stated that one book on which the name of Jamaatud Dawa Pakistan was written had a receipt of Rs1,000 issued under the name and signature of the accused. It added that the other receipt book of FIF had a receipt of Rs1,000 issued also under the name and signature of the accused.

State prosecutor Tahir Hussain Mangi contended that the CTD official had also recovered a total collection amount of Rs2,000 from the possession of the accused, who had disclosed having his affiliation with JuD and its charity wing and was collecting funds for this proscribed organisation on different receipts.

He asked the court to punish the accused in accordance with the law.

On the other hand, in his statement, recorded under Section 324 of the criminal procedure code, the accused had denied the allegations and stated that the CTD officials had managed the case against

him despite the fact that “nothing” was recovered from his possession. However, he failed to produce any witness in his defence.

His defence counsel Nehal Khan Lashari argued that the CTD officials raided the house of Uzair and took him into custody assuring that he would be set free within a couple of hours, but later implicated him in the present case.

The counsel further argued that his client belonged to the Jamaat-i-Ghurba Ahl-i-Hadith Pakistan, which was not a proscribed organisation, adding that even otherwise the said organisation was managing its expenses from its own resources instead of collecting funds from the public. Therefore, he pleaded to the court to acquit his client of the alleged false and fabricated charges.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2021