MQM activist gets death penalty for fellow party man’s murder

Karachi

A Muttahida Qaumi Movement activist, Asif Ali, was handed down the death sentence on Monday by an anti-terrorism court for the murder of Waqas Shah, also a party office-bearer.

Asif Ali, an MQM unit in-charge was convicted for murdering his fellow party office-bearer, Waqas Shah, during a protest that erupted after the Rangers raided the MQM headquarters, Nine-Zero, on March 11 last year.

The ATC also awarded seven-year imprisonment to the convict besides ordering him to submit a fine of Rs0.5 million for carrying an illegal weapon.

The court had reserved its judgement in July after hearing the arguments on behalf of the accused and the prosecution.

The court had earlier rejected Asif’s plea to transfer his case to a regular court from the ATC.

After hearing the arguments of the defence counsel and the state attorneys, the ATC, headed by Farman Ali Kanasro, had concluded that the case was rightly registered under the provisions dealing with the Anti-Terrorism Act and it was fit to be heard by the ATC and not by a subordinate court. A Rangers’ counsel had strongly opposed the plea of the alleged killer, arguing that the murder came under the ambit of terrorist activities and the accused should be tried before the ATC instead of any subordinate court.

Requesting the court to transfer the case to a regular court, the attorney for the suspect had said that his client had not committed any terrorist activity and the case should not be heard by an ATC.

At a previous hearing, the under detention accused, Asif Ali, had recorded his statement, claiming that the Rangers opened fire to disperse people who had gathered around the MQM headquarters Nine Zero during a Rangers raid on March 11, 2015. 

The accused further claimed that Waqas Shah was killed by Rangers gunshots during the raid. The prosecution, however, underlined that the accused himself had confessed to killing Shah.

As per a Rangers’ statement, the accused was a joint unit in-charage of the Gulistan-e-Jauhar and he had killed Waqas Shah, a member of MQM’s literature committee, during the raid.

Representing the Rangers, eye-witness Inspector Irfan had testified that he was a part of the raiding team and he himself had witnessed the killing of Waqas Shah.  He said that accused Asif Ali had pulled out a pistol and fired at the victim.

The prosecution submitted that the official had also rightly picked out the accused as the alleged shooter before a judicial magistrate during an identification parade.

The attorneys, however, had rejected the statement. Upon this, the court had asked them to produce a witness in this regard.

The court had been warning the defence attorneys to produce any of the eye-witnesses who could reject the claim of the prosecution about the killing of Waqas Shah by Asif Ali in clear terms with a proof. 

The prosecution maintained that the suspect, using a pistol, shot Waqas Shah at a time when the paramilitary force resorted to aerial firing in a bid to disperse the crowd that had converged to protest against the raid.

Shah, a 25-year-old MQM worker affiliated with the party’s student wing, suffered a single bullet which hit his cheekbone and pierced through the back of his head, according to the post-mortem report.

The MQM said that the lethal gunshot came from the Rangers personnel, however, the paramilitary force refuted the allegation, shifting the responsibility on Shah’s comrade. None of the Rangers’ personnel carried a 9mm gun used in the killing, the force asserted.

Asif Ali was arrested three months after the incident
in an ‘intelligence-based’ raid by the Rangers in Shahdadpur.

The paramilitary force said the suspect had fled the city to avert arrest and a few top MQM leaders, including Farooq Sattar and Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, knew about the incident.

On the other hand, the MQM had alleged that Waqas Shah was killed when Rangers personnel resorted to “straight firing” on its workers during the raid at their headquarters.

The Sindh Rangers had denied the allegation, saying that the man was killed by a small arm fire, which was not used by the Rangers troops.