Liberty Chowk assault: Court upholds 16-year jail term for Taseer vigil attackers

LHC dismisses appeals of five convicts against verdict of anti-terrorism court

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has upheld the sentence of five people convicted of attacking participants of a vigil held in memory of former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer.

On July 27 last year, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) awarded 16 years and 6 months jail term for each of the accused named Adeel, Furqan, Iftikhar, Wazeer Ali and Kashif Munir. The convicts were charged with attacking and injuring civil society members at Liberty Roundabout in 2015.

In its short order announced on Tuesday, an LHC division bench comprising Justice Abdul Sami Khan and Justice Ibadur Rehman Lodhi dismissed their appeals and upheld the punishment awarded by the ATC.

Arguing before the court, the convicts’ counsel held the trial court convicted his clients without going through the details of the case. No substantial information was provided by the prosecution to associate the accused with the incident, he contended, requesting the court to set aside their punishments.

Punjab Deputy Prosecutor General Khurram Khan said the ATC had awarded the sentence after recording statements of the witnesses, who confirmed the accused were involved in the attack.

He added a video recording of the incident was also provided to the court that showed the convicts attacking the peaceful protesters.

Khurram requested the court to dismiss the convicts’ appeals.

The accused were booked by the Gulberg police on the complaint of a rights activist on January 4, 2015. The FIR was registered against seven unnamed men and sections from the anti-terrorism act were also been added to the complaint.

The complainant said that candlelight vigils had been organised in Taseer’s memory for the past four years, but this was the first time such an event was attacked.

He said baton-wielding miscreants tore apart banners and posters as they attacked members of the civil society.

Several people were injured in the sudden attack. The attackers managed to flee before police arrived at the scene, he said.

Taseer was assassinated by his security guard Mumtaz Qadri for demanding reforms in Pakistan’s blasphemy laws in January 2011. Qadri was hanged after confirmation of his punishment by the Islamabad High Court and then dismissal of his appeal from the Supreme Court.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 5^th, 2016.