Sindh cabinet gave nod to lodge case against Ali Wazir, ATC told

Court reserves verdict on three out of five cases against Uzair Baloch

KARACHI:

The Sindh cabinet had given the approval to register a case against MNA Ali Wazir, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) was informed on Friday during the hearing of a case pertaining to provocative speech. As the investigation officer submitted the minutes of a Sindh cabinet meeting, held on November 21, 2019, to ATC no12 it emerged that Sindh Labour Minister Saeed Ghani had suggested during the meeting that the prosecutorgeneral's advice be sought on whether approval should be given for registering a case against the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement leader.

The minutes of the meeting stated that when the matter was referred to the prosecutor general, he had suggested that the cabinet give approval to lodge the case. Besides, a forensic report submitted to the court concluded that visual footage of Wazir's address of December 6 was real. However, the IO stated, the laboratory that issued the report said it couldn't test the authenticity of the audio in the video as it did not have software needed for the purpose. Following that, the court sought arguments from Wazir's counsel and adjourned the hearing till February 3. Wazir was elected to the National Assembly in 2018 from South Waziristan's constituency NA-50 on an independent ticket.

Read MNA Ali Wazir sent to jail on judicial remand

Verdicts reserved

Separately, an ATC reserved the verdicts on three out of five cases registered against Lyari gang war leader Uzair Baloch, after lawyers completed their arguments. The court will announce the verdicts on February 16. As for the remaining two cases, the court recorded the statements of two witnesses in them. Uzair Baloch and others accused in the case are implicated for attacking a police station and police mobile van, possessing illegal weapons and having an encounter with the police. Separately, South model court acquitted Baloch in two murder cases on Friday given the lack of evidence against him. An additional district and sessions judge announced the verdict on Baloch’s plea seeking acquittal in murder cases at Karachi Central Jail. The cases against Baloch pertaining to murders of unidentified men were lodged in 2004 at Baghdadi and Kalakot police stations in 2004. Baloch has been acquitted in six cases thus far.

Life sentences

Separately, an ATC handed life sentences to two Muttahida Qaumi Movement-London (MQM-L) target killers, after finding them guilty in a murder case. The court also convicted them in a case pertaining to the possession of illegal weapons and sentenced each of them to five years in imprisonment on that count. A fine of Rs500,000 has also been imposed on each of the convicts, Shahid Aziz and Syed Asif Raees, in the case. In case the convicts are unable to pay the penalty, they will have to spend three more years in jail, the court ruled. According to the special public prosecutor, Aziz and Raees had killed former union councillor Rashid alias Mamu in 2017 and 15 witnesses had testified against them.