Tribal feud: SC reserves verdict on life imprisonment appeals

Three of the nine accused have already died while in custody

KARACHI: The Supreme Court (SC) reserved on Tuesday its verdict on appeals challenging the life imprisonment of nine convicts, of which three have died.

The apex court's three-member bench, headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed, was hearing appeals filed by the convicts at the SC's Karachi Registry.

Thatta's local court had handed down life terms to nine accused who were found guilty of killing 10 and injuring 15 others in 29-year-old tribal feud. Police had shown 21 others as absconders in the case relating to a tribal clash in 1988.



Advocate Mehmood Qureshi argued that the Sindh High Court (SHC) had dismissed the appeals of his clients and maintained life imprisonment by upholding the trial court's order.

He pointed out that three appellants, Usman, Haji Budhoo and Khuda Bux, had already died during pendency of the appeals in the SC.

He claimed that the case had glaring contradictions as neither had any confessional statements of the accused been recorded nor was any recovery made from them.

Qureshi argued that the trial court had solely relied on the identification parade of the accused, which was also not conducted by the concerned judicial magistrate in accordance with the law. Therefore, he pleaded to the court to set aside the trial court's judgment and acquit the appellants.