An anti-terrorism court (ATC) awarded on Tuesday 25 years’ imprisonment to Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) activist Saeed alias Saeed Bharam for killing a Mohajir Qaumi Movement worker about eight years ago.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs100,000 on the convict, who had murdered Syed Abrar Hussain Zaidi in the Nabi Bakhsh police jurisdiction on October 1, 2009.
Two of Bharam’s several accomplices, Tahir Lamba and Haider Guddi, have been declared proclaimed offenders in the murder case. Tahir Lamba is also alleged to have been worked for the Indian secret agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
According to the prosecution, Bharam himself had confessed to investigators that he along with his companions had killed Zaidi on directives from the top MQM leadership due to the political enmity between the two parties.
The prosecution presented seven witnesses and the court, after recording their statements and examining the other evidence, sentenced Bharam to 25 years in prison.
Saeed Bharam was arrested from Dubai in May last year. He was kept under detention by the Rangers for 90 days and later remanded to the police.
He is also standing trial for the murder of KESC managing director Shahid Hamid. In that trial, then MQM activist Saulat Mirza was awarded the death penalty and later hanged.
On May 30 this year, Bharam was among four MQM activists who were acquitted by an ATC of charges of murdering central jail superintendent Amanullah Niazi and five other policemen on grounds of no sound proof of their involvement being presented.
The three other activists were Ubaid-ur- Rehman alias Ubaid K2, Tanveer Chand and Chaudhry Sajjad.
The judge of the ATC concerned that heard the case at a court housed inside the central prison had earlier reserved the verdict after hearing arguments of the accused’ attorney, Advocate Abid Zaman.
Two more accused, Abu Irfan and Faisal Khawaja, have already been acquitted by the court on the same grounds, while as many as 10 others absconders of the case have been declared proclaimed offenders.
Those declared POs included Noman alias Nomi, Zahid alias Zahid Kala, Farhan alias Farhan Kala, Jamal Pasra, Hashim, Yaseen, Shafique, Ishtiaq alias Police wala, Javed Hassan and Aneesur Rehman alias Ali.
Niazi, the then deputy superintendent, his driver, Akhter Hassan, and other policemen, Shafiullah, Muhammad Azeem and Sabir Sultan were killed in an attack in the area of Garden police station on June 15, 2006.
Ubaid K2 and two of his accomplices, Tanveer Chand and Sajjad were indicted in the case in October 2015. The three had, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
It was alleged that the men had killed Niazi over his refusal to provide illegal facilities to Saulat Mirza while he was in prison.
However, none of the detained activists are to be released since there are several other cases that they have been charged with, including possession of illicit weapons and explosive materials.
Ubaid K2 was arrested on March 11, 2015 during the Rangers raided on MQM’s headquarters, Nine Zero, and other adjoining areas.