PESHAWAR: For the first time, the Peshawar High Court on Monday began hearing into the petition of former agency surgeon Dr Shakil Afridi against the upholding of his conviction by an appellate forum for links with banned militant outfits.

The petition like others pending with the Fata tribunal was recently shifted to the high court for proceedings after the tribunal’s abolition due to the merger of the tribal areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

A bench consisting of Justice Abdul Shakoor and Justice Ijaz Anwar held preliminary hearing into the two revision petitions of Dr Shakil and administration of Khyber tribal district’s administration against the decision of the Frontier Crimes Regulation commissioner delivered on Mar 15, 2014.

It issued a notice to the provincial government on Dr Shakil’s petition against upholding of his conviction for links with banned outfits.

Issues notices on petitions of ex-agency surgeon, govt about sentence

The bench also put on notice the former agency surgeon over a petition of the government against the reduction of his sentence by the FCR commissioner, which was the appellate forum under the FCR, which stands repealed due to the Fata-KP merger.

The petitions remained pending with the tribunal for four years without noteworthy progress.

The FCR commissioner had upheld the conviction of Dr Shakil for being linked to a banned militant organisation of Bara tehsil but reduced his prison term slapped by the assistant political agent’s court from 33 years to 23 years and the fine from Rs320,000 to Rs220,000.

Through the revision petition, Dr Shakil had challenged the commissioner’s decision with the Fata tribunal, the third and final judicial forum under the FCR.

Similarly, the administration had also moved the tribunal seeking increase in the sentence of Dr Shakil.

Lawyers Abdul Lateef Afridi and Qamar Nadeem appeared for Dr Shakil in the court and accepted the notice issued to their client on the government’s petition.

The schedule of next hearing will be announced later.

Dr Shakil was taken into custody in May 2011 by intelligence agencies on the suspicion of arranging a fake vaccination campaign at the behest of American CIA in Abbottabad for tracing Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. However, he was not convicted by the trial court on that charge.

The assistant political agent, who was also the additional district magistrate of Bara tehsil in Khyber agency, convicted him on May 23, 2012 for involvement in anti-state activities by supporting the Bara-based banned outfit, Lashkar-i-Islam, and sentenced him on different counts to a total of 33 years’ imprisonment with fine of Rs320,000.

The court convicted him on four counts, including sedition, waging war against Pakistan, concealing design to wage war against Pakistan and condemnation of the creation of Pakistan. He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on three counts and three years imprisonment on fourth count.

The trial court ruled that the sentences would run consecutively, so he had to undergo 33 years imprisonment. He was also fined Rs320,000 altogether.

Initially, an appeal was filed before the FCR’s commissioner, which on Aug 29, 2013, disposed of the appeal with the observation that such a serious nature case should have been tried by the political agent himself under proper law and rewaj so as to ensure absence of iota of any doubt regarding merit and transparency.

The said order of the commissioner was challenged before the Fata tribunal, which on Dec 18, 2013, remanded the case back to the FCR commissioner with the direction to pronounce a clear order regarding his trial by the political agent on charges of having links with a militant organisation.

The FCR commissioner again heard his appeal on Mar 15, 2014, and upheld his conviction. He, however, set aside the conviction under Section 123-A (condemnation of creation of state of Pakistan) of Pakistan Penal Code, ruling that the provision in question was not in the schedule of offences under the FCR.

The sentence was reduced to 23 years imprisonment with a fine of Rs220,000.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2019