ATC awards jail term to Taseer vigil attacker

The accused was booked by Gulberg police on complaint of a rights activist on January 4, 2015

LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court awarded on Thursday 16.5 years of imprisonment to convict Mumtaz Sindhi for attacking participants of a vigil held in memory of former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer three years ago.

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, Lahore in 2015. The sentence was upheld by the Lahore High Court in October 2016.



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.

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.