LeJ hitman given death sentence for sectarian killing

An anti-terrorism court on Monday sentenced banned terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi’s hitman Ishaq alias Bobby to death for murdering a lawyer affiliated with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in a targeted attack on a sectarian basis.

Pronouncing the verdict, the ATC-XVI judge ordered Ishaq to pay a compensation of Rs200,000 to the legal heirs of the victim, Advocate Waqar Nadeem Shah, and a fine of Rs50,000 to the state. The judge also ordered the relevant authorities to take hold of the properties of the convict.

According to the prosecution, Shah, vice president of the PML-N lawyers' wing in the city, was going to office in a black Toyota Corolla with his driver on April 10, 2014, when four terrorists on two motorbikes attacked the vehicle on Shabbir Ahmed Usmani Road in Gulshan-e-Iqbal. The lawyer was hit with four bullets and he died at the scene.

Later, Ishaq was arrested in November 2016 and during an interrogation, he had admitted his involvement in several high-profile felonies, including the murder of Shah. Subsequently, he was charged in this case and during the trial, the prosecution had presented nine witnesses against him.

Concluding the trial, the judge observed that the prosecution had proved the charge against the accused of murdering the lawyer and thereby he was convicted for the crime and sentenced to death by hanging.

The judge put the case against the absconding accused, identified as Zaheer alias Chashmato, on dormant until his arrest or surrender and issued a perpetual warrant of arrest for him. The FIR was registered under Sections 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act at the Gulshan-e-Iqbal police station on the complaint of the father of the deceased.

Meanwhile, the same court acquitted Ishaq in another case pertaining to the targeted killing of a man on a sectarian basis in 2015. He was charged for murdering Syed Wazir Ali, the owner of a paan shop, in Korangi’s Zaman Town area.

The prosecution had presented 11 witnesses during the trial, however, the judge observed that neither of had been an eyewitness to the incident nor there was any incriminating evidence, therefore, the benefit of the doubt, in accordance with the law, shall be given to the accused.

“One single circumstance leading towards the real doubt is sufficient to acquit the accused,” the judge said, while acquitting Ishaq from the case. The FIR was registered under Sections 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the PPC read with Section 7 of the ATA at the Zaman Town police station.

Ishaq and his accomplice Asim alias Capri were convicted to death by a military court in April 2018 for the murder of renowned qawwal Amjad Sabri. They face 19 more cases pertaining to the targeted killings of military and police personnel, polio workers and people belonging to the Shia community. They were transferred from Sukkar to Karachi in January 2020.