KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court has sentenced a terrorist belonging to the banned Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) to a total of 48 years in prison for carrying out an attack on a car carrying two Chinese engineers near Gulbai Bridge in 2021.
The two Chinese engineers along with the local driver were on their way from Defence to the SITE area in a car on July 28, 2021. When they reached near Gulbai Bridge, an armed pillion rider opened fire on the vehicle and fled. One of the foreigners had suffered bullets wounds on different parts of his body while others remained safe during the attack.
After the incident, the banned BLF claimed responsibility for the gun attack.
Iqbal Meo Rajput, Deputy Prosecutor General of Sindh told Dawn, accused Dad Bux was held in the university bomb blast case as he had allegedly carried out surveillance and reconnaissance of the varsity at the behest of the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and the case was still in trial phase.
He added that during the initial interrogation, the accused allegedly confessed his crime that in 2021, he along with co-accused Nasir Baloch had attacked the Chinese engineers.
On Friday, the judge of the ATC-IV, after hearing arguments from both sides, pronounced the verdict in which he convicted the accused on seven counts and sentenced him to 14 years in prison for terrorism, 10 years each for attempted murder and possession of an illegal weapon, and an additional 14 years for causing injuries to the victim in the attack.
However, all the sentences will run concurrently, the court ruled, adding that the case file will remain dormant until the arrest of co-accused persons.
It observed that the attack on foreign nationals was ‘motivated by ethnic considerations and intended to incite hatred against foreign nationals, create internal disturbance and foment violence within the country’.
The judge observed that an attack deliberately directed against Chinese nationals for the purpose of ‘creating fear, insecurity or disruption in relation to such bilateral cooperation may extend beyond an ordinary offence against individual persons and may involve an attempt to sabotage Pak-China strategic friendship and CPEC; deter foreign investment and damage the national economy; undermine the sovereignty and foreign policy of Pakistan; and create terror and insecurity in the state, as contemplated under Section 6 of the ATA’.
The court noted that the attack on Chinese nationals, in the circumstances established in the present case, could not be treated merely as an ordinary offence of attempted murder.
The deliberate selection of Chinese nationals as specific targets, prior reconnaissance of their movements, the alleged involvement of more than one assailant, the use of firearms in a public place and the subsequent claim of responsibility attributed to the Balochistan Liberation Front through a press release produced before the court were circumstances that required consideration in determining the object and purpose ofthe occurrence.