Terrorism case: Six awarded 24-year jail terms in Bahawalpur

BAHAWALPUR: An Anti-Terrorist Court awarded 24 years rigorous imprisonment to six accused in a terrorism case in Bahawalpur on Friday. The verdict was announced by ATC Judge Khalid Arshad.

The prosecution told the court that accused Muhammad Nawaz, Muhammad Shakeel, Shabbir Ahmad, Muhammad Usman, Sultan Shahabuddin and Wajid Rasheed planted a bomb near Darbar Hussain in Khanpur on January 16, 2012. However, the bomb disposal unit defused the bomb. Later, the police arrested the accused during a raid at a hideout and registered a criminal case against them.

After hearing the arguments and evidence, the court handed down 24 years jail term to the accused. In addition, the judge also imposed a fine of Rs0.1 million on the accused.

In case, the accused failed to pay the fine, they will have to undergo six months imprisonment.

Earlier, an anti-terrorist court in Bahawalpur awarded 16 years imprisonment and Rs 400,000 fine to a man for raising funds for banned terrorist outfits.

The police had arrested Muhammad Yameen for raising funds of banned terrorist outfits. Sectarian hate literature was also recovered from his possession.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 24^th, 2016.