HYDERABAD: The Central Jail Hyderabad’s Superintendent Aijaz Hyder informed the Sindh High Court (SHC) here Tuesday that Syed Qari Hashim Shah, who was acquitted in US journalist Daniel Pearl’s murder case, has been released from the prison.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Syed Khalid Imran Shah, brother, who maintained that despite the acquittal orders by Anti-Terrorism Court on October 23, 2014, his brother has not been released from the prison.

His counsel, advocate Sher Muhammad Laghari apprised the SHC that Hashim was detained for 90 days under Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance but even that period of detention had completed on January 19, 2015. In his reply, the Jail Superintendent informed the court that Hashim was released from the jail on January 19. However, the petitioner’s counsel challenged the claim. The SHC deferred the hearing to March 26.

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The Chief Court has also issued a formal notice to prosecution in this regard.It is hoped that the Chief Court of GB will dispense justice to the appellants.Meanwhile, Raja Shakeel Advocate said that the editor-in-chief of Jang Group was sentenced in absentia. Moreover, Muhammad Iqbal Advocate said that the ruling of the Anti-Terrorism Court was a sheer violation of the law.

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Ansar Burney said that several questions were being emerged through filing of case against Geo by the murderers of humanity and through hurriedly announced ruling of the court while the GB court had no jurisdiction to hear this case.

He said that the magistrate of Gilgit-Baltistan areas had also declared Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman and others as proclaimed offenders in the same offence which had caused nothing but humiliation across the world.

He said that firstly the case could not be filed in anti-terrorism court and secondly the concerned court did not announce verdict against the petitioner and witness who were involved in killing of several people. He said that the so-called ruling of the court was contempt of justice.

Ansar Burney appealed to the prime minister to put an end to this ruling against chief of Jang Group and others by using his constitutional power. He asked the Gilgit-Baltistan government to purge their courts of such persons who are making courts a laughing stoke in the name of justice.

He said that the verdict of Gilgit-Baltistan court should be condemned which had become the cause of defamation of the nation and country across the world. He also demanded that investigation into this act should be carried out.

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They said that the conviction was incompatible with press freedoms enshrined in Article 19 of the Constitution and that the Gilgit-Baltistan (Empowerment & Self-Governance) Order, 2009 under which the judicature of that territory had been set up, was violative of the fundamental rights guaranteed to all Pakistani citizens in the Constitution. They said: “The unlawful conviction of media persons in Gilgit-Baltistan constitutes a major threat to the existence of a free press throughout the country.”

The joint statement issued on Friday further said that whereas some fundamental rights had been conferred under the controversial order, two major fundamental rights enjoyed by citizens of Pakistan under the 1973 Constitution were notably missing from it — the fundamental rights enshrined in Articles 10A and 13 of the Constitution.

CPNE, APNS urge PM to take notice of ‘unlawful conviction’

The statement pointed out that Article 10A provides that in any criminal charge, a person shall be entitled to a fair trial and due process and Article 13 guarantees that “no person shall be prosecuted for the same offence more than once”.

“Thus, if citizens of Pakistan not resident or not even physically present in the territory, were to be transported for trial from Pakistan to Gilgit-Baltistan for alleged offences, such persons would be denied two important fundamental rights.”

The presidents of CPNE and APNS have urged the prime minister to take immediate notice of the ‘unacceptable and anomalous’ situation by appropriately modifying the Order 2009. “Under Article 31 of this controversial order, the executive authority of the Government of Gilgit-Baltistan must be exercised to secure compliance with Pakistan laws, and this is a process that must be initiated immediately.”

Under Article 34 of the order, the prime minister has the power to remit, suspend or commute any sentence passed by any court or tribunal of Gilgit-Baltistan.

The statement said that the prime minister “must exercise his power to dispose of the sentence by the anti-terrorism court in Gilgit-Baltistan. Otherwise, Pakis­­tani journalists would always remain in fear of being dragged into criminal proceedings by a flawed dispensation in Gilgit-Baltistan on the flimsiest of pretexts — that their reportage has also been disseminated in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Dawn

The organization also noted serious concerns about the fairness of the trial.

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) sentenced in absentia Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, owner of Geo TV and its parent Jang Media Group, actress Veena Malik, her husband Asad Bashir and TV host Shaista Wahidi, to 26 years in prison each for airing a “contemptuous” programme.

Geo TV has a tense relationship with Pakistani authorities and was earlier this year temporarily taken off air following the blasphemy allegation.

“This sentence will have a chilling effect on freedom of expression in Pakistan. It is appalling that someone should be sent to prison for decades over a TV programme,” said David Griffiths, Amnesty International’s Deputy Asia Pacific Director.

“This judgment shows how Pakistan’s deeply flawed blasphemy laws have become another tool to silence media.

“There are also serious concerns about the fairness of this trial as the defendants were sentenced in absentia and never had the opportunity to answer the charges in court.”

The ATC also fined the four convicts 1.3 million Pakistani rupees (USD 12,800) each.

The blasphemy charges relate to a programme aired by Geo TV in May this year, when Malik and Bashir re-enacted their wedding ceremony with a Qawaali, devotional music sung to dictate the life and teachings of Prophets, which concerned the marriage of Fatima Zahra, daughter of Prophet Muhammad, with his cousin, Ali.

Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman is based outside Pakistan, while Malik and Bashir have fled the country after receiving death threats when the blasphemy allegations were first levelled against them. Malik told Amnesty International that she fears for her life if she returns to Pakistan.

Pakistan’s blasphemy laws violate international human rights law and standards. Amnesty International urges the government to reform the laws as a matter of urgency to provide effective safeguards against their abuse, with a view to their eventual repeal.

“Although the blasphemy laws are disproportionately used against religious minorities, today’s sentencing underlines the fact that no one in Pakistan is safe from being targeted,” said David Griffiths.

“The death threats against Veena Malik and Asad Bashir show how even an accusation of blasphemy could lead to the threat of violence. Authorities should do more to protect those at risk of violence – not fuel the fire by using blasphemy laws to settle political scores.”

Geo TV has been locked in a standoff with Pakistani authorities since its main anchor, Hamid Mir, in April this year accused the spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of being behind an assassination attempt on him.

On 6 June this year, the governmental body Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) suspended Geo TV’s license for 15 days over the blasphemy allegation. PEMRA imposed a similar ban on another private TV station, ARY TV, on 20 October for “maligning” the country’s judiciary.

“The Pakistani authorities must end their attempts to harass critical voices in the media into silence.

“Instead of trying to control media outlets and journalists, the Pakistani authorities should do more to protect them so they can carry out their work freely and without intimidation and harassment,” said David Griffiths.

Amnesty International

GILGIT: An anti-terrorism court has sentenced the owner of the Jang-Geo group Mir Shakeelur Rehman, host of Geo TV’s morning show Shaista Lodhi, actress Veena Malik and her husband Malik Asad to 26-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs1.3 million each for hurting religious sentiments of people in the show.

Announcing the verdict on Tuesday, ATC judge Raja Shahbaz ordered inspectors general of police of Islamabad, Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to arrest the convicts and execute his order.

The court also asked the commissioners of Karachi and Rawalpindi and the deputy commissioner of Islamabad to sell the property of the four ‘proclaimed offenders’ under Section 19(10) of the Anti-Terrorism Act in case of disobedience.

On May 26 this year, Himayatullah Khan, senior vice president of the Gilgit-Baltistan chapter of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, had lodged an FIR with the Baseen police station saying the show had defiled Ahle Bait by playing a contemptuous Qawwali in its morning show.

According to the judgment, the competent authority had constituted a joint investigation team (JIT) on June 6 on a request made by the DIG. After completion of the JIT investigation, the case was submitted before the ATC on Sept 1.

The judgment said the accused had been declared absconders by the JIT.

“After evaluation of the entire evidence of the prosecution, I am of the considered opinion that the prosecution has proved its case against proclaimed offenders and absconders,” the judge said in the verdict.

“I convict proclaimed offenders under sections of Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997,” the judge said.

The compliance report be submitted before this court within 90 days and the record of the case may be transmitted to the Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Court, the judgment said.

Meanwhile, a police source said that 10 FIRs had been registered against the owner of the Geo TV network and the morning show host at different police stations in Gilgit city, two in Skardu and one in Chilas.

DAWN

An FIR was lodged on the complaint of a lawyer in May against the management of Geo TV, Shaista Lodhi, the host of Utho Jago Pakistan programme, and some others on charges that they aired objectionable content in the morning show.

Abdul Maroof, special public prosecutor of ATC-III, wrote a letter to the SHO of Mithadar police station on Saturday, stating that, in his view, basic elements of criminal liability were missing in the case due to absence of “mens rea”. He argued that the offence caused to viewers was unintended.

(“Mens rea” is a legal term which literally means “guilty mind”. This forms the basis for a notion that those without sufficient mental capability cannot be judged guilty of a crime. In courts, “mens rea” must be established to prove that a crime has been committed.)

Maroof maintained that since lodging a case in respect of broadcasting offences was barred under Section 34 of the Pemra Ordinance 2002, the case had become illegal, adding that the contents alleged in the FIR fell within the ambit of broadcasting offences case was lodged at Mithadar police station under Sections 295-A [deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs], 298-A [use of derogatory remarks, etc in respect of the Holy Prophet (PBUH)] and 34 (common intention) of Pakistan Penal Code, read with Section 7 of Anti-terrorism Act 1997.

DAWN

Following the delaying tactics of the organised criminal gang behind the murder of journalist Wali Khan Babar and the killing of six eye witnesses, one prosecutor and, the case has finally concluded, setting an example of being a case where the killers have been prosecuted and brought to justice.

Two main killers, still at large, have been awarded death sentence and four arrested are awarded life imprisonment.

Much has been written about the Wali Babar murder case in national and international media. But there are many unwritten and untold stories from the murder of the journalist in January 2011 to the conclusion of the first stage of the case on March 1, 2014.

Five eyewitnesses including Rajab Bangali, policeman Asif Rafiq, Naveed Tanoli brother of Inspector Shafiq Tanoli who arrested the accused and Haider Ali who identified the accused convicts before the court and one prosecutor Naimat Randhawa got murdered. Earlier, lawyers on behalf of the complainant Arshad Iqbal Cheema, Muhammad Khan Buriro and Mubashar Mirza had refused to proceed with the matter. All three lawyers fled abroad following death threats. Buriro and Mirza later returned to Pakistan after the passage of a year.

A policeman who investigated the murder case and arrested the absconding accused in Wali Babar case said those arrested are only foot soldiers or simple agents. “The mastermind and culprits who ordered these criminals to kill Babar are still safe and will remain so because of their influence.”

“The criminal gang who ordered the killings is not only operating in the country; it is also operating from other Western countries as well as South Africa, Sri Lanka and UAE. Everyone in the law enforcing agencies is aware of this mafia but they are silent due to political compulsions,” says another policeman on condition of anonymity.

The decision from the ATC in Wali Babar case is the first stage. The criminals behind this murder will challenge the decision in the high court and are capable of challenging the case in the apex court too.
The way Wali Babar was chased and killed, how the five eye witnesses and one prosecutor of the case were murdered one by one, and the support obtained by the arrested criminals proves it was not the act of any ordinary criminal gang but the work of a highly-organised mafia.

After the killings of five eye witnesses and one prosecutor of the case Naimat Randhawa, the Sindh Government on the pressure of journalist community requested the Sindh High Court to transfer the case from Karachi High Court to Anti-terrorism Court Khandkot.

The case was transferred on November 8, 2013 and the accused shifted to nearer District Jail Shikarpur on November 28, 2013 due to pressure of their supporters.

The case was defended by the defense counsel of the accused Suleman Mujahid Baloch MNA of MQM from NA 239 Karachi. Baloch used many delaying tactics, remained absent on three hearings in a row despite the case being in its final stage. But after getting warning from the court and the decision of Sindh Government to provide counsel to the accused on state expense, Baloch appeared and argued.
There are reports that the administration of District Jail Shikarpur is still providing illegal facilities to the accused-now-convicts of this high profile murder case due to their political backing.

A well-placed source in Sindh Jail Department revealed that the convicts, Faisal Mehmood alias Nafsiyati, Naveed alias Polka, Muhammad Ali Rizvi, Shakeel Malik and Shah Rukh alias Mani confined, had not only been enjoying the facilities reserved for A class prisoners but they had even visited the city in an official car of a jail officer twice during their confinement. The jail administration is said to be providing them good quality food and has appointed two prisoners to wait on them, it was learnt. These facilities are subject to court orders only and can be provided to highly literate persons, law graduates and members of parliament.

The journalist community protested on January 18 on the call of PFUJ in front of Shikarpur Jail against these acts.

Leaders, MNAs and MPAs of a particular party have been present and fully supporting every hearing of the case, extending full legal support to the murderer of Babar Wali.

The confidential joint interrogation reports (JITs) of six premier intelligence agencies of the country including ISI, IB, CID, Pakistan Rangers and police point towards the MQM workers’ involvement in the murder of Wali Babar and also confirmed that Faisal Mehmood alias Nafsiyati, Shah Rukh alias Mani and Muhammad Ali Rizvi were workers of Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

According to the JIT reports, the orders to kill Babar were issued by some ‘influential people’ living in South Africa but with connections in Karachi.

The JIT report further said that accused revealed to the investigators that their group leader, Faisal alias Mota, had received orders from a man named Agha to kill Babar. Faisal Mota held several meetings with them at different places to finalise the modus operandi of the operation.

MQM spokesman Wasay Jalil said the party has nothing to do with any of the convicted killers. “Every Urdu-speaking person is not an MQM worker. Such allegations are not new to the party as some people continue to spread fabricated stories against the party,” he said, adding these questions should arise only if the court convicts MQM.

Secretary General Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists PFUJ said, “The journalist community welcomes the court decision and our struggle for free media will continue.” He said the journalist community will also pursue the other cases of journalists’ murders in the line of duty.

There were two important turning points in the case which helped the prosecution to conclude the case — the confessional statement of one accused Shahrukh alias Mani before the judicial magistrate Karachi regarding the killing of Wali Babar and involvement of another accused. The other was the identification of convicts before the court by an eyewitness Haider Ali who was later killed in November, 2012.

Some questions related to the case are still unanswered. Will the judgement announced by the anti-terrorism court after three years of the murder reveal the masterminds, the actual culprits behind the murder? Will the main killers be arrested and punished?

In a country like Pakistan, especially in Sindh province where proclaimed offenders become ministers and members of parliament, anyone can imagine the situation. The main question is: Why was Wali Babar picked on? Some quarters say that he wanted to interview the ex-wife of a political leader and some suggest he was murdered due to his ethnic background.

These questions remain unanswered. The decision from the ATC in Wali Babar case is the first stage. The criminals behind this murder will challenge the decision in the high court and are capable of challenging the case in the apex court too.

The News

AT last, some accountability. Some days ago, a little over three years after Wali Khan Babar was shot dead while on his way home from work at a local television channel in Karachi, six people were convicted of the young reporter’s murder. Two of them, who have never been apprehended, were sentenced to death in absentia while four others, arrested a few months after the killing, were given life imprisonment. After Daniel Pearl, this is the first case of a journalist’s murder in Pakistan in which there has been a conviction. It is a welcome development in a country deemed one of the world’s most dangerous for journalists where, according to international watchdog organisations, scores of journalists have been killed over the last decade by violent ethnic, religious or militant groups and there have been times where even the country’s security establishment has come under suspicion.

In order to undo the culture of impunity that surrounds such murders, the successful prosecution in this instance must not be an exception; the cases of other slain journalists should be pursued with alacrity and determination. Although the Wali Babar case had all the twists and turns typical of a high-profile crime — several witnesses were murdered and two prosecutors reportedly fled abroad on account of threats — it also demonstrated that strong resolve and an innovative approach on the part of the state can yield results. The decision to move the trial from Karachi to an anti-terrorism court in Shikarpur was perhaps pivotal in bringing about a conclusive result, as it placed vulnerable individuals who were material to the prosecution at a distance from those seeking to silence them. The Wali Babar case is thus important for the signal it sends to those who would silence journalists for doing their job. The same needs to be done in the case of other journalists killed in the country, not the least of them being Saleem Shahzad. Without that, suspicions of the state’s complicity by either omission or commission will remain.

DAWN

Karachi: Four men convicted of murdering Geo News reporter journalist Wali Khan Babar filed appeals on Thursday in the Sindh High Court against their life sentences.

Mohammad Shahrukh, 24, Faisal Mehmood, 45, Tahir Naveed Shah, 34, and Mohammad Ali Rizvi, 40, had been sentenced for life by an anti-terrorism court.

The appellants’ counsel alleged the prosecution had failed to prove its charges against the men and there was no direct evidence against them. The trial court erred in its judgment by relying on the prosecution case, which could not be substantiated in the eyes of the law, he claimed.

The high court was asked to set aside the convictions and to order the release of appellants if they were not involved in other cases.

On February 28, the Shikarpur anti-terrorism court had also handed down death sentences to two absconding men, Kamran alias Zeeshan and Faisal. Another man, 44-year-old Mohammad Shakeel, was however acquitted by the court.

Babar was shot dead on January 13, 2011, in Liaquatabad. The accused were arrested from Gulshan-e-Iqbal after a shootout. During interrogation, they confessed to their involvement in the murder.

Police charged the defendants along with their absconding associates, Kamran alias Zeeshan, Junaid, Saeed, Liaquat and Faisal, that they had killed the reporter due to some enmity.

The News