Two ‘MQM’ men acquitted of ASI’s murder for lack of evidence

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday acquitted two men, said to be associated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), in a 19-year-old double murder case for lack of evidence.

Khawaja Mohammad Faisal and Syed Abu Irfan, alias Urfi, had been charged with murdering assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Iqbal Niazi and Haseeb Ahmed in a targeted attack in Federal B Area, within the jurisdiction of the Gulberg police station, in May 2005.

The ATC-X judge, who conducted the trial in the judicial complex inside the central prison, announced his judgement after recording evidence and final arguments from both sides.

He ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove its case against both accused beyond any shadow of a doubt, and therefore, exonerated them. As the accused had already been granted bail in the present case, the court cancelled their bail bonds and discharged their sureties.

According to the prosecution, on May 12, 2005, the two accused, along with their accomplices, had targeted ASI Niazi, who was on a motorbike, in Block 5 of FB Area, killing him and Ahmed, who was riding pillion on the two-wheeler.

In 2021 Faisal was arrested by the Counter Terrorism Department in an illegal arms case, it said, adding that during interrogation he admitted to his involvement in the double murder.

The accused allegedly revealed that he, along with his accomplices Abu Irfan, Shafiqur Rehman, Yameen, Irfan Sindhi and Arif, on three motorbikes, had murdered ASI Niazi and Ahmed on their party’s directives.

Defence counsel Abid Zaman contended that both accused were nominated in the case on the basis of the confession of accused Rehman, who had already been acquitted in the present case. The prosecution had no evidence to corroborate its charges against the accused, he said, and requested the judge to acquit them.

The FIR had been lodged under sections 302 (murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code, read with Section 7 (punishment for terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

Faisal and Abu Irfan have also been acquitted in three high-profile cases pertaining to the murders of deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Nawaz Ranjha, retired DSP Rahim Khan Bangash and the then central prison deputy superintendent Amanullah Khan Niazi.