KARACHI: A sessions court has handed down the death sentence to a man in a murder case.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Azizur Rehman Junejo, who is also the presiding officer of the Model Criminal Trial Court (East), found Babar Siraj guilty of murdering Syed Ashraf Ali, general secretary of the Functional Labour Union of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA), over a quarrel on July 18, 2019.

After hearing the arguments and recording the evidence, the court sentenced the accused to death. However, the sentence is subject to confirmation by the Sindh High Court (SHC).

The court also ordered the convict to pay Rs1 million in compensation to the legal heirs of the deceased. He was also convicted for possessing an illicit weapon and for this, the court sentenced him to 10 years in prison and imposed a fine of Rs50,000.

“Recovery of crime weapon from the accused and the matching of the empty [bullets shell] during forensic examination has also supported the prosecution case… the accused could not shake the credit of the witnesses nor could they create any doubt in the prosecution case by leading defence evidence despite the fact that they were given opportunity,” the judge observed in its verdict.

Earlier, the sessions court in 2021 had convicted the accused and sentenced him to death in this case. But the convict had challenged his death penalty in the SHC and after hearing the petitioner, the SHC remanded the case back to the trial court for a fresh trial.

According to state prosecutor Parvez Ahmed Qureshi, complainant Syed Talha Ashraf, along with his father Syed Ashraf Ali, was sitting near the canteen of the SBCA on July 18, 2019, when co-accused Atif Mota, now absconder, and accused Babar Siraj came and after exchanging hot words with them brought a pistol from the office of Ebrahim Kaka and opened fire, wounding Ashraf Ali (deceased), he added.

A case was registered at the New Town police station under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 114 (abettor when offence is committed) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code, read with Section 23 (i) (a) of the Sindh Arms Act 2013.

Chinese consulate attack case

One of the prosecution witnesses has testified against the four alleged facilitators before an antiterrorism court (ATC) in the attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi.

The Counter-Terrorism Department booked and detained Mohammad Aslam, Ahmed Hasnain, Ali Ahmed, alias Hashim, and Abdul Latif — all said to be associated with the banned separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) — for allegedly facilitating three heavily armed militants, who were killed while attempting to enter the Chinese consulate on Nov 23, 2018 in Clifton.

The matter came up before the ATC-VII judge, who is conducting trial in the judicial complex inside the central prison, where the prosecution witness — who is the investigating officer in the illicit weapon case — had testified against the four alleged facilitators before the court.

In his testimony before the court, the IO said that the accused were apprehended on charges of possessing explosives and weapons.

He deposed that they had facilitated the three terrorists who had attack on the Chinese consulate as they confessed before him. He also claimed that prior to the attack they had helped the terrorists for conducting reconnaissance of the consulate.

After recording the statement of the prosecution witness, the court adjourned the hearing until November 2.

According to the prosecution, seven people, including three heavily armed militants, two policemen and two visitors — were shot dead in a gun-and-grenade attack by them on the Chinese consulate located in the high-security zone in Clifton’s Block-4.

In a progress report, filed with the court in January 2019, the IO had stated that the terrorists stormed the consulate building and started firing and throwing hand-grenades and also killed assistant sub-inspector Ashraf Dawood and police constable Mohammad Amir, who were posted at the first security checkpoint, while Mohammad Jumman, who was posted at the entrance to the visa section, was injured by their firing.

It added that a flag of the banned BLA was found in the possession of the terrorist identified as Raziq Baloch.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2024