Man awarded 25-year prison term over police encounter, unlicensed pistol

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) has handed down a collective sentence of 25 years in prison to a man in cases pertaining to encounter with police and possession of illicit arms.

Fazal Khaliq was found guilty of opening fire on police with intention to kill and possessing an unlicensed weapon in the Gulshan-e-Iqbal area on January 29 this year.

The ATC-III judge, who conducted trial in the judicial complex inside the prison, announced his order after recording evidence and final arguments from both sides. He ruled that the prosecution successfully proved its case against Fazal beyond any reasonable doubt. He, however, acquitted co-accused Naveed Ahmed by giving him the benefit of the doubt.

The judge awarded a total of 12-year imprisonment to Fazal for acts of terrorism as defined under the sections 7(b) and (h) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997. He was handed down seven-year imprisonment for offence punishable under the Section 324 (attempted murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and one year in prison for offence punishable under the Section 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of the PPC.

Additionally, the high court sentenced the convict to five-year imprisonment for possession of an unlicensed pistol.

He was ordered to pay a fine of Rs180,000 or undergo additional imprisonment on default.

The judge said all the sentences awarded to the convict shall run concurrently.

Pointing out loopholes that led to acquittal of Naveed, the judge noted that the accused's identification parade before a judicial magistrate was not carried out as per the guidelines given by the Supreme Court and that no reason for the delay in holding the parade was given by the prosecution.

"Even learned magistrate has not mentioned the particulars/data of dummies arranged by him for the test of identification. Therefore, the prosecution has failed to establish its case against the accused Naveed Ahmed beyond a reasonable doubt, therefore, the accused Naveed Ahmed is entitled to get its benefit as a right," he said.

According to the prosecution, a police party on patrol signalled the accused riding a motorcycle to stop in Gulshan-e-Iqbal on January 29, but one of them opened fire with the intention to kill the cops and deterred them from discharging their lawful duty.

When the police retaliated, the accused fell down from the motorcycle and one of them snatched a motorcycle from a food delivery rider and fled the scene. Fazal was arrested on the spot in an injured condition and an unlicensed pistol was seized from his possession. His absconding accomplice Naveed was arrested three months later.

Two separate FIRs were lodged by the Special Investigation Unit and Criminal Investigation Agency.