Four facilitators sentenced to life in prison in Ali Raza Abidi murder case

An anti-terrorism court on Monday sentenced four men to life in prison on two counts in a case pertaining to the murder of former Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Syed Ali Raza Abidi.

Mohammad Farooq, Abdul Haseeb, Mohammad Ghazali and Abu Bakar were found guilty of facilitating, aiding and abetting the absconding accused, who shot dead the former MNA outside his Defence Housing Authority (DHA) residence in December 2018.

The conviction came over five years after the politician’s murder. The case was transferred from one ATC to another before reaching the ATC-XV, where the presiding judge announced the verdict after recording evidence and final arguments from both the defense and prosecution. The four main accused — Ghulam Mustafa alias Kali Charan, Bilal, Hasnain and Faizan -- still remain at large.

The judge sentenced the accused to life imprisonment twice, one for the offence of abetment and the other for the act of terrorism. The accused were ordered to pay Rs100,000 each as compensation to the legal heirs of the deceased. Upon failure to pay the fine, they would have to undergo an additional six-month imprisonment.

The judge said there exited ample evidence on record to connect the accused with the commission of the crime by being facilitators/abettors of the main accused persons. “The evidence shows that all the accused persons in the furtherance of their common intention are involved in the commission of murder of Syed Ali Raza Abidi and they are equally responsible for the act,” observed the judge.

“Under provision of section 34 [of] PPC criminal act should be done by several persons, in furtherance of their common intention, which would mean that every accused had to take part in the commission of the offence. To attract the said provision the sum be proved of overt act on part of each accused done in furtherance of common intention.”

The judge explained the purpose behind awarding sentence was two-fold: Firstly, it would create such an atmosphere, which could become deterrence for the people who have inclination towards crime and secondly to work as medium in reforming the society.

The absconding accused Bilal, Hasnain, Mustafa, and Faizan had been declared proclaimed offenders. The judge put the case against them on the dormant file till their arrest or surrender before the court.

State prosecutor Ghulam Abbas Dalwani contended that the four accused had facilitated the main accused in committing the murder of the ex-MQM-P leader on December 25, 2018. These four accused were continuously recceing the deceased at three places, including his office, restaurant in Clifton and residence, and communicated details to the main accused persons, he said.

The prosecutor argued that the accused conducted recce and aided the main accused in the commission of the crime in furtherance of their common intention; thus, they all were equally responsible for the said offence and were entitled to capital punishment.

During interrogation, accused Farooq, brother of key accused Mustafa alias Kali Charan, had admitted that his brother along with his accomplices Ghazali, Haseeb, Abu Bakar, and Bilal were involved in conducing recce of the deceased. On the basis of information provided by him, the police had arrested the three accused.

An FIR was lodged under Sections 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 on the complaint of the victim’s father Syed Akhlaque Hussain Abidi at the Gizri police station. Later, the section related to abetment was incorporated in the case.