Polio workers: Man sentenced to 14 years for attempted attack

Convict claimed he was falsely implicated

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) sentenced on Saturday a man to 14 years in prison for attempting to attack a team of polio workers.

Mir Waiz, said to be affiliated with banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, was arrested by the police in August 2013 after he, along with five absconding accomplices, tried to obstruct polio vaccinators from completing their duties in Gulshan-e-Maymar.

The police team guarding the vaccinators arrested him and seized a hand grenade from his possession, while the others managed to escape. He was charged under sections 4 and 5 (possessing explosives under suspicious circumstances) of the Explosives Substances Act and Section 189 (threat of injury to a public servant) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

ATC-V judge Jawaid Alam, after scrutinising the evidence and examining witnesses, found Waiz guilty of the offence and awarded him a 14 year jail term for carrying explosives and two years for threatening the polio team, to be served concurrently.

Waiz, throughout his trial, maintained innocence and claimed he was falsely implicated and was picked up by the police from his house. The judge, however, observed that the prosecution successfully established its case against the accused.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 29^th,  2016.