MM News

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Karachi on Monday sentenced two policemen to death for killing teenager Intizar Ahmed in a “planned encounter” in the city’s Defence Housing Authority (DHA) neighbourhood in 2018.

Announcing the verdict, the ATC judge found police constables Bilal Rasheed and Mohammad Daniyal, who were serving as the guard and driver of ex-ACLC chief (now DIG) Muqaddas Haider, guilty of shooting 19-year-old Intizar to death.

The court also awarded life imprisonment to six other ACLC officials, including then-station house officer (SHO) Tariq Mehmood, former inspectors Tariq Raheem and Azhar Ahsan, then-head constable Shahid Usman and ex-constables Ghulam Abbas and Fawad Khan.

However, suspect inspector Ghulam Abbas Raza was acquitted due to the lack of evidence. The ATC also imposed a fine of Rs200,000 on the five accused arrested earlier in a case pertaining to a teenager’s murder in the fake encounter.

Nineteen-year-old Intizar Ahmed was killed after some policemen opened fire on his car at Khayaban-e-Ittehad in Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority on the night of January 13, 2018. Intizar, who was studying in Malaysia, had returned to Pakistan for his holidays.

He was travelling in his car with a friend, Madiha Kayani, on January 13 when policemen in plain clothes chased his car and shot him dead in DHA after he failed to stop the vehicle upon the cops’ direction. Kayani had managed to escape the scene unscathed in a rickshaw.

In July this year, the court had reserved its verdict after recording evidence and final arguments from the defence and prosecution sides. All the undertrial policemen were indicted on May 15, 2018, for the student’s murder.

During the trial, the prosecution examined nearly 20 witnesses. A ballistics expert had confirmed that official weapons of the ACLC personnel were used in the killing.