MQM worker Ubaid K2 awarded life term for murdering Rangers man

An anti-terrorism court on Thursday awarded life imprisonment to Muttahida Qaumi Movement activist Ubaid K2 in a 26-year-old case pertaining to the murder of a Rangers official.

Syed Ubaid alias Ubaid K2 was found guilty of attacking paramilitary troops in Liaquatabad in July 1998, killing Rangers driver Dildar Hussain and injuring Hawaldar Mumtaz Ali.

“The prosecution has established by adducing the cogent and reliable evidence that deceased Dildar Hussain and injured Hawaldar Mumtaz Ali sustained bullet injury during the encounter at the hands of present accused and his accomplices Nadir Shah and others, which resulted in his death before reaching hospital,” ruled the ATC-III judge, who conducted the trial in the judicial complex inside the central prison. He noted that all the accused had escaped the scene after the incident and Ubaid was arrested in the case after lapse of 23 years.

“The version given by the prosecution is supported by medical, ocular and circumstantial evidence. The prosecution witnesses have fully implicated the present accused,” he observed. The judge awarded life imprisonment to the accused on charges of murder, unlawful assembly and terrorism.

The convict was handed down a total of 15 years imprisonment for attempted murder and assault to deter public servant from discharge of his duty, and also ordered to pay a Rs600,000 fine to be paid in compensation to the deceased’s legal heirs and injured soldier, if recovered.

The judge said the sentences awarded to the convict shall run concurrently and the period of time since his arrest would also be counted towards his jail term. According to prosecutor Tahira Akhtar, the accused, who was already incarcerated in prison, was arrested in the present case on February 2, 2021. She contended that on July 2, 1998, MQM unit incharge Nadir Shah along with his accomplices Miroo, Ubaid K2, Asif Shakeel, Arshad, and others started chanting slogans against law enforcement agencies on seeing a Rangers patrol near Poly Clinic in Liaquatabad and opened fire at the personnel with automated weapons to commit their murder and deter them from discharging their duties. As a result, she added, Hawaldar Mumtaz Ali and Sepoy-Driver Dildar Hussain sustained bullet injuries.

The prosecutor said the paramilitary troops retaliated but the accused managed to flee the scene. Both injured personnel were rushed to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where the driver succumbed to his injuries.

She argued that there was sufficient ocular and medical evidence that linked the accused with the commission of the offence. The accused was named in the FIR, she said, adding that he remained fugitive for a long time and during interrogation admitted to his guilt.

On the other hand, defence counsel Raj Ali Wahid argued that there were glaring contradictions in the evidence produced by the prosecution, arousing doubt as to the veracity of its version. He said his client was innocent and had been falsely implicated in the present case.

The counsel contended that one witness was declared hostile by the prosecution while the police conducted unfair investigation into the case, which is also part of record. He pleaded with the judge to acquit the accused for lack of evidence.

On May 19, 1999, co-accused Faisal, Razak, Imran, and Junaid alias K2 were convicted and awarded death sentence. Juvenile offender Taha was tried separately and convicted in 2000. The Sindh High Court later acquitted Faisal, Razak and Imran while Junaid’s sentence was reduced to life imprisonment.

On May 15, 2002, the ATC convicted Nadir and Ubaid K2 in absentia. Ubaid K2, when arrested in the present case, filed an application in the ATC that later set aside his conviction and ordered his fresh trial. Ubaid K2 was arrested during a Rangers raid on the MQM headquarters, Nine Zero, in March 2015.