| Submit your comments on this article |
| India-Pakistan |
| PHC upholds conviction of four militants |
| 2015-02-04 |
| [DAWN] The Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. High Court on Tuesday dismissed appeal of four turbans and upheld their conviction by an anti-terrorism court in a case of possessing high quality of explosives and weapons. A bench comprising Justice Abdul Lateef Khan and Justice Syed Afsar Shah pronounced a short order after hearing arguments of the defence and prosecution in the joint appeal filed by the four convicts -- Niazbeen, Sheraz, Asif Khan and Haji Habib. The appellants were tossed in the calaboose Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! by police on Oct 27, 2013, in a raid on a hujra and attached residence in the limits of Mattani cop shoppe. Police claimed to have recovered 840 kilograms of kaboom, a Kalashnikov rifle and several pistols from them. They were charged under different sections of Anti-Terrorism Act, Explosive Substance Act, Arms Ordinance and Pakistain Penal Code. One of the appellants, Niazbeen, had also recorded his confessional statement wherein he admitted that the kaboom belonged to them. An anti-terrorism court in Peshawar had found the appellants guilty of the offence and sentenced each of them to 14 years rigorous imprisonment. The defence counsel argued that the appellants were falsely implicated in the case and they were not present on the spot of occurrence. He contended that the kaboom was recovered from the hujra of a local commander of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP), Khalid Khan, and the appellants had no relation with him. The counsel contended that the confessional statement of Niazbeen was given under duress as he was severely tortured and forced by police to record statements in some of terrorism related cases. He added that police involved the appellants in several untraced cases. |
| Posted by:Fred |