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| India-Pakistan |
| Qadri acquitted of terror charge; murder conviction upheld |
| 2015-03-10 |
| [DAWN] The Islamabad High Court acquitted on Monday the self-confessed killer of then Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard 2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers 3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... governor Salman Taseer of charges of terrorism, but upheld his conviction under the Pakistain Penal Code (PPC). Mumtaz Qadri, Mr Taseer's gunman and former commando of Punjab police's Elite Force, had assassinated Salman Taseer in Islamabad's Kohsar market on Jan 4, 2011. On Oct 1 that year, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Rawalpindi sentenced Mumtaz Qadri to death on two counts -- one under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and the other under Section 302 of the PPC. Qadri filed two separate appeals against his conviction. A division bench of the IHC, comprising Justice Noorul Haq N. Qureshi and Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, dismissed the appeal against conviction under the PPC, but accepted the plea seeking removal of terrorism charges. The 64-page IHC judgement said: "The conviction of appellant recorded by the learned trial court under Section 7 (a) of the Anti-Terrorism Act is set aside; the appeal to this extent is allowed and appellant is acquitted from the said charge, whereas conviction and sentence recorded under Section 302 (b) of the PPC is upheld and appeal to this extent is dismissed. "It is amazing to note that appellant (Mumtaz Qadri) took protection and rights guaranteed by the constitution, but deprived the dear departed (Salman Taseer) of all constitutional guarantees. It is beyond any reasonable doubt that the murder of Salman Taseer at the hands of appellant Mumtaz Qadri was pre-planned, cold blooded and gruesome. "Murder intent and preparation is manifest from the prosecution evidence and the stance of appellant himself. "Mumtaz Qadri emptied the whole magazine containing 28 bullets at the body of deceased Salman Taseer. "The principles of mitigating as provided in the case law are not applicable to the present case. "The appellant may be a pious man in his personal life, but admittedly neither he is a scholar nor a Qazi and it is the job of the courts to go in the depth of the words and then to declare that words attributed to a person amount to commission of offence of blasphemy or not. "The Holy Prophet (SAW) was the blessing for whole mankind and instances where Prophet (SAW) forgave the contemnors were more in number than the instances where the contemnors were done to death." The court expressed astonishment over the petitioner's allegation, without any proof and merely on perception, that Salman Taseer had committed major sins and said this act could not be termed Islamic and moral. If Taseer had made any irresponsible statement about the blasphemy law, he should have been taken to court, it added. The judgment said: "Much was discussed about the motive of Mumtaz Qadri, but to our mind the act and stance of Qadri itself exhibit the motive. In the dictum laid down by the superior courts, it is settled law that motive or no motive is irrelevant when the case is proved without any shadow of doubt." TERRORISM CHARGE: About the charges of terrorism, the court observed that it was not applicable because the incident did not create panic among the public. However, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... the court is convinced that the ATC had jurisdiction to hear this matter. The IHC verdict said: "There is no cavil with the proposition that supreme law of the state is Islamic law and all of our laws whether procedural, substantive or penal are to be interpreted in the light of the injunctions of the Holy Koran and Sunnah of Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW) but from whatever angles it is considered neither the Islamic law nor the law of the land gives any justification to the act of the accused (Qadri) and searching for any justification for the act of the accused would defeat the purpose for which Islamic Theocratic Republicof Pakistain was established and the social contract amongst its people in the shape of the Constitution of Islamic Theocratic Republicof Pakistain was promulgated resulting in anarchy, lawlessness, and rule of might is right. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 So they'll only execute him once? |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2015-03-10 07:47 |