ISLAMABAD:
Leader of the Opposition in the Balochistan Assembly Yar Muhammad Rind was arrested inside Supreme Court premises on Thursday after failing to have a life imprisonment sentence handed to him by an Anti Terrorism Court reversed.
The former federal minister, his son Sardar Khan and four others were sentenced to life by an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Quetta for their alleged involvement in the kidnapping of a man, and for failing to appear before the court on June 28, 2011.
Rind had earlier tried challenging the case in the Balochistan High Court (BHC) and approached the Supreme Court on Thursday to file a plea against the ATC’s verdict before he was arrested. His plea was also rejected.
Rind’s counsel Akram Shaikh maintained that the case against his client was wrong as he was sentenced in absentia. During proceedings, Rind attempted to justify his absence in court, claiming that Balochistan Chief Minister Aslam Raisani was after his blood due to old enmity between the Raisani and Rind tribes. So far, he said, 200 people have been killed due to hostility between the two tribes, adding that he was, therefore, unable to enter Balochistan.
Following his arrest, the opposition leader is reported to have been moved to the Secretariat Police Station in Islamabad.
He had requested to be kept in the Sindh House instead of the Balochistan House but the chief justice observed that it was not suitable to grant bail to a convicted person. Surrender first and request for bail later, the court observed.
Talking to reporters in the Supreme Court on Thursday, Rind said that he had surrendered himself before the highest court of the country and had complete faith that he would be provided justice.
In 2009, a case was registered at the Shoran police station against Rind, who is also the chief of the Rind tribe, his son and the former district Nazim Sardar Khan and four others, namely Sabzal Khan, Mohammad Yusuf, Allah Dina, Wali Mohammad and Din Mohammad. They had been accused of kidnapping one Imamudin in 2009 from the Sanni area.
A challan of the case was submitted to ATC Quetta-II upon which the court summoned Rind and the others accused. However, despite frequent notices, all the accused failed to turn up at the hearings.
Judge Aminuddin Bazai convicted the accused on charges of kidnapping Imamudin and handed down life imprisonment and a fine of Rs50,000, each, for deliberately ignoring court notices. However, Din Mohammad was declared innocent by the court as no charges were proven against him.
The court will take up the matter next Monday.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 2nd, 2012.
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