Ex-MNA Abidi’s killing in 2018 was not terrorism: Sindh High Court

A two-judge bench headed by Justice Omar Sial passed this order while hearing appeals of convicts Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Ghazali, Abu Bakar and Abdul Haseeb against their life term by an anti-terrorism court (ATC). In April 2024, the ATC had sentenced them to life in prison for facilitating absconding accused in the killing of the MQM-P leader in December 2018 outside his Defence Housing Authority home. The bench acquitted the appellants from the charge of terrorism and the life term awarded under the Pakistan Penal Code by the ATC was commuted to the period they have already served. In its verdict, the bench stated that the appellants were convicted for the offence of terrorism, but no cogent evidence was produced at the trial court to show that there was an intent or design to coerce and intimidate public or create a sense of fear or insecurity in society. It said that this was a case of targeted killing, but the motive for which was never discovered by the investigators. It said only evidence against the appellants was their “extrajudicial confessions” recorded by police in the presence of the complainant and call date record (CDR). It noted that alleged confessions were inadmissible in evidence as admittedly, none of the confessions was made before a judicial magistrate while there were indications of “unlawful force” having been used in their arrests and subsequent detention. “An extra-judicial confession is a weak piece of evidence and it must be cor