ATC Convicts One In Taseer Vigil Attack Case

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Jan, 2017 ) : An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday handed down a collective imprisonment of sixteen-and-a-half years to an accused for attacking a vigil, held by civil society to mark the death anniversary of Punjab's slain governor, Salman Taseer.

The court convicted Mumtaz Sindhi under five different sections of the law. ATC-III Judge Chaudhry Muhammad Azam handed down five- year term to him under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, three-and-a-half years under Section 365 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), two years under Section 149 of the PPC, three years under Section 153-A of the PPC and three years under Section 148 of the PPC.

The court also imposed Rs 40,000 fine on the convict, who would have to undergo six-month additional imprisonment for failing to pay the amount.

More than a dozen baton-wielding men had attacked the participants in the candlelight vigil, held at Liberty Chowk in Lahore to mark the death anniversary of Salman Taseer on Jan 4, 2015.

The attackers tore the banners, pictures and posters displayed at the venue and also thrashed the activists holding the vigil. The ATC had already handed down a collective imprisonment of sixteen-and-a-half years each to five convicts - Adeel, Furqan, Kashif, Iftikhar and Wazir Ali - in the same case.

The Lahore High Court had also dismissed their appeals against conviction. The convict Mumtaz Sindhi remained an absconder after the incident, but was arrested in May 2015.