Pindi district courts killing case

RAWALPINDI: The Special Anti-Terrorist Court No-II, Rawalpindi Judge Asif Majeed Awan on Saturday awarded 8-time death sentence and lifetime imprisonment to each of the five accused as they were involved in killing four people on the premises of district courts, Rawalpindi, in police custody in 2011.
The court also ordered to seal all the movable and immoveable property of the accused.
The ATC judge awarded 8-time death sentence and lifetime imprisonment to Khyzer Sher, Adil Hussain, Muhammad Liaquat, Safeer Sadiq and Asif Shaikh. They killed Chaudhry Shaukat, 55, Chaudhy Arshad, 50, Chaudhry Ghalib alias Mithu, 32, and a passerby, Muhammad Iqbal, 60, a resident of Rawalpindi.
However, the court acquitted Muhammad Kabir, Taj Muhammad, Sabir Hussain, Muhammad Farid, Shamma Bibi and Wajid Ali for lack of evidence in the case. The gunmen entered the district courts, Rawalpindi, and killed four people mercilessly.
The assailants, four in all, opened fire at their three rivals in police custody. They also shot dead a passerby taking him for a relative of the victims. The incident, which happened at 10:30am, raised questions over the security arrangements at the courts at that time.
The attack spread fear and panic among people at the district courts and led to a boycott of proceedings by lawyers, who protested along with bar association representatives against the inadequate security measures.
The Civil Lines police arrested three of the assailants, while the fourth suspect managed to get away at that time.
It was a grim scene as the attackers shot countless rounds at the three handcuffed men, and then they slashed the neck of another person with a dagger and shot another dead man in the eye.
The innocent passerby killed by the gunmen was a client and was leaving from a lawyer room after discussing a civil case.
The arrested attackers were Safeer Sadiq, Khizar Sher and Asif Sheikh, all residents of Rawalpindi, who claimed that they were avenging the murder of three of their relatives.
The Civil Lines police said the deceased were on trial for killing two men around two years ago in Dhoke Ellahi Bukhash.