Deadly argument: ATA clause included in case

KARACHI: A judicial magistrate ordered on Monday to include an Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) clause in the case against the Rangers official who allegedly killed his colleague over a 'personal' row.

Rangers soldier Syed Ali Murtaza has been booked for allegedly killing his colleague Mashooq Ali with his official rifle after engaging with him in an argument at the paramilitary force's Bhittai 63 wing barracks in KDA Block 17 of Gulshan-e-Iqbal.

On Monday, police presented Murtaza before the East Judicial Magistrate Khalid Hussain to seek his physical remand. The magistrate, however, asked the prosecution if a regular court could deal with such an offence.

The prosecutor insisted that the case fell within the ambit of the ATA as the suspect killed his own colleague with a weapon given to him by the government. The magistrate observed that the soldiers were assigned to guard the people but this violent act stirred fear in society.

The court sent the paramilitary soldier on a one-day transit remand in police custody and directed the investigation officer to present the suspect before the anti-terrorism courts' administrative judge on Tuesday (today).

The case was registered under Section 302 (premeditated murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Sharah-e-Faisal police station. After the court's ruling, Section 7 of the ATA has been added into it.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 25^th, 2016.