The police claimed the traders opened fire at them first and they retaliated but the judges observed the police later fabricated the FIR. CREATIVE COMMONS
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) gave five policemen death sentences on Wednesday after finding them guilty of killing four Quetta-based traders in a ‘fake’ encounter.
The guilty policemen belong to the Anti-Car-Lifting Cell (ACLC). The court also ordered that the moveable and immoveable property of the accused will also be seized. The ATC-III handed down the punishment to the accused, inspector Malik Irshad Hussain, and his subordinates, Noor Muhammad Shah, Zaheer Mirza, Zahoor Khan, Zafar Ali.
“I have come to the conclusion that the prosecution has been successful in proving that all accused collectively with their common intention being member of a police party committed murder of all four deceased persons,” stated the judge. “They, therefore, are awarded death sentence on four counts.”
The implementation on the sentence is, however, subject to the confirmation of the high court, he added. Following the verdict, policeman Ali, who was out on bail, was taken into custody by the police. Another accused, Rub Nawaz, is still at large.
According to the prosecution, the ACLC team were accused of killing the traders, Muhammad Tahir, Obaidullah Khan, Muhammad Ibrahim and Zainuddin Khan, in a fake encounter on Khalid bin Waleed Road on December 31, 2009.
The ACLC team had earlier claimed that the men had opened fire on them from their car and the police retaliated in self defence. It was, however, observed in the judgment that after killing the traders, “the police then registered a false and fabricated FIR to conceal their high-handedness”.
The medical and other documentary evidence also supported the version of the prosecution and the case was proven against the accused beyond a shadow of doubt, said the deputy district public prosecutor, Abdul Maroof.
The prosecution examined 21 witnesses in order to establish its case while the defence counsel examined four defence witnesses, he added.
Following the incident in 2009, the Supreme Court had taken suo motu notice and ordered the police to book the suspects in the case. A case under sections 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code was registered against the ACLC team on the complaint of Haji Lal Khan, the father of one of the four victims, Zainuddin.
Earlier, the Ferozabad police had registered a case under section 319 (unintentional murder) against the police officials after an inquiry into the killing of the four traders concluded that the incident was an outcome of criminal negligence of the police team.
The judge also noted that the offence not only falls within the ambit of terror but it also falls under the ambit of ‘fasad-fil arz’. This means that even if the family pardons the offenders, the court can still carry on and award punishment.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 13th, 2014.
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