SC denies relief to retired captain who killed two majors

Accused, a tenant of victims, got death sentence from trial court

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan turned down plea to commute death sentence of a retired army captain who had shot dead two serving majors over a monetary dispute.

The accused Captain (retd) Ismail Pervaiz Minhas had been sentenced to death by a trial court for the murder of Major Faisal and Major Kashif. Both the majors were brothers-in-law.

Supreme Court (SC) had earlier dismissed his application against the sentence however it was filed once again. The case was heard by a three-member bench led by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa on Tuesday.

Top court seeks details of army officials holding dual nationality

During the hearing, the petitioner’s counsel Sardar Lateef Khosa argued that the incident occurred in July 2007 in Gulsitan Colony Civil Lane Rawalpindi. He added that the suspect was a tenant at the victims’ house and maintained that there was no enmity between them. He said there was no reason why the suspect would have killed the victims. At this, the chief justice said that the suspect came out of the house firing in the air. He added, “We do not want to commit a mistake in the case therefore we heard you thoroughly.”

After listening to arguments, the court dismissed the petition and upheld the verdict of lower courts.

Notification challenged

The notification of declaring medical students from federal capital ineligible to seek admission in medical colleges of Punjab has been challenged in Islamabad High Court (IHC).

Aisha Ashraf through her counsel Wajid Mughal Advocate made federation of Pakistan, Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) and University of Health Sciences (UHS) as respondents in the application.

The petitioner stated that in newspaper advertisement, the students with domicile of Islamabad were declared eligible for admission in medical colleges of Punjab. However, a student obtaining 94 per cent marks in intermediate examinations was declared ineligible by UHS later. The applicant pleaded the court to nullify the notification barring admission of medical students hailing from Islamabad in medical colleges of Punjab.

SC gives bureaucrats 'final chance' to come clean on dual nationality

Bail sought

A suspect under arrest on charges for assaulting a British-Pakistani woman has filed bail application in a lower court.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Jehangir Awaan has sought arguments from the suspect’s counsel on September 28.

Earlier, the suspect, Areeb Ali, showed himself as an employee of a sensitive institution however he was later arrested by Golra police. The suspect is currently imprisoned in Adiyala Jail.

Meanwhile, the sources have revealed that the police are pressurising the British-Pakistani woman for reconciliation with the man who had assaulted her. 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25^th, 2019.