MQM men acquitted in illegal weapons case

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: A three-member bench of the Supreme Court on Monday acquitted two activists of the Mutahidda Qaumi Movement in a terrorism case, rejecting a government appeal to the contrary.

Abdul Jabbar and Muhammad Shafiq (alias Pappu) were arrested by Karachi Police for possessing illegal weapons including AK-47 assault rifles. The prosecution declared them agents of the Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing. They were tried by the Karachi Anti-terrorism Court and awarded capital punishment. The convicts filed appeals in the Sindh High Court (SHC) against their punishment. The prosecution failed to prove the case in SHC and the convicts were acquitted. The Sindh government challenged the decision of the Sindh High Court at the Supreme Court.

Earlier the Apex Court, while granting leave to the appeal, suspended the order of the SHC.

Advocate Abdul Mujeeb Pirzada on Monday appeared on behalf of the defendants. The bench comprised of Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui, Justice Mian Muhammad Ajmal and Justice Falak Sher dismissed the government’s appeal and upheld the decision of the SHC regarding the acquittal of the accused.

SC rejects PML-N woman’s bail application: A three-member Supreme Court bench on Monday dismissed the bail application of a woman leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) in a drug trafficking case, in which she was undergoing an eight-year rigorous imprisonment handed down to her by a trial court.

Nafeesa Akhtar, who had earlier contested the general election in Peshawar from the PML-N platform, was arrested on April 13, 2001 when five kilogrammes of heroin were recovered from her possession. The trial court handed her down an eight-year rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 50,000 on July 24, 2002. Ms Akhtar filed a bail application in the Lahore High Court division bench, which rejected it. She then moved the Supreme Court through her counsel, Advocate Razzaq A Nazir.

The appellant’s counsel argued that her case was politically motivated as his client was a PML-N activist and had contested the general election from a provincial constituency of Peshawar. During her client’s trial, he argued, the prosecution failed to show the confiscated heroin at any stage.

He said her father, Khawaja Ayub, was also a political figure. “That is why her opponents are trying to make her a political scapegoat,” Advocate Nazir told the court.

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