Drug trial: Judges issued warrants for TTP man already in prison

Trial of convicted terrorist delayed because of transfers, judicial errors.


Rana Yasif November 18, 2013
Judges issued warrants for TTP man already in prison. PHOTO: EXPRESS/ FILE

LAHORE: Judges conducting the trial of a convicted terrorist for possession of four kilos of hashish issued non-bailable arrest warrants for him and sent him notices at his home address, even though he had been in prison the whole time.

Sakhi Shah was arrested in February 2011 along with five other members of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan in possession of suicide jackets, grenades and hashish. They were all later sentenced to life in prison by an anti-terrorism court.

But Shah’s drug trial, initiated in April 22, 2010, has not progressed beyond the early stages because the case has been repeatedly transferred, and judges taking it on have made various oversights, according to court documents and interviews with some of the trial judges.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Khalid Bashir first took up the drugs case and deferred it till May 2, 2010, after Central Jail officials reported that Shah was being tried in an anti-terrorism court.

The case was later transferred to Judge Malik Muhammad Iqbal, but the accused was not produced before him and the judge left his office. Additional District and Sessions Judge Rana Zahid Iqbal Khan was next to take up the case and he summoned Shah for July 19, 2011. Jail officials told the court that permission had been received for the trial to take place behind bars. The judge fixed April 10, 2012, for the jail trail. But Iqbal also left office and the case was transferred to Judge Hamid Hussain for June 5, 2012.



Apparently overlooking the previous orders for the trial to go ahead in jail, Judge Hussain directed the Shahdra SHO to produce the accused in court after picking him up from his home address. A Constable Mukhtar Ahmed then reported to the court that he went to Shah’s home address, but he wasn’t there.

The case was again transferred, to Judge Sadiq Masud Sabir. On December 3, 2012, he issued arrest warrants for the accused. The case was then transferred to Additional District and Sessions Judge Chaudhry Ghulam Murtaza, who declared Shah a proclaimed offender on July 6, 2013. On November 4, the judge recalled his order declaring Shah a proclaimed offender and scheduled the trial to proceed for November 22.

Murtaza told The Express Tribune that he recalled the order when he learned that Shah was already in prison. He said that it was an innocent mistake and that he was keen to decide the case quickly.

Sabir, who had issued arrest warrants for Shah when he was already in prison, admitted that he had overlooked the previous orders. He too said that it was an innocent mistake.

According to the FIR registered by Shahdara police, they received information on February 8, 2010, that some terrorists including Qari Abdul Baseer, a member of the TTP trained to prepare explosive jackets and recruit suicide bombers, were due to arrive in Lahore via the Saggain Bridge to conduct an attack on the PC Hotel. The police set up a picket and stopped a car and motorbike, arresting Abdul Baseer, Tehsil Khan, Abdur Rehman, Mohayuddin, Dilawar Saeed and Sakhi Shah.

They confiscated explosive jackets, hand grenades, and from Shah, four kilos of hashish. The FIR was registered against them under Section 4-B of the Explosives Act and Section 7-C of the Anti-Terrorism Act. Shah was also accused under Section 9-C of the Control of Narcotic Substances Act.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 18th, 2013.

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