KARACHI: An antiterrorism court on Wednesday sentenced two men to death for killing a senior lawyer and his advocate son in Malir.

Mohsin Baloch and Abid alias Kaloo Baloch were found guilty of killing the founding president of the Malir Bar Association, Salahuddin Haider, and his son Advocate Syed Ali Raza in March 2012 in Malir.

The court also convicted Abid of killing a policeman during a shootout in April 2012.

Judge Anand Ram Sairani of the ATC-IV, who conducted the trial after clubbing the lawyers and policeman 1(illing cases, pronounced his verdict after recording arguments from both sides.

The court in its judgement observed that both the accused had voluntarily recorded their confessional statements before a judicial magistrate in the lawyers killing case.

The evidence of prosecution witnesses in the double murder case as well as in the connected case of the shootout remained consistent on material points and the documentary evidence also corroborated their testimonies, it added.

The court ruled that the cases stood proved against the accused beyond a shadow of a doubt.

The court also handed down 10-year imprisonment to Abid in the shootout case and five-year term for possessing an illicit weapon.

The court also imposed a total fine of Rs70,000 and in case of default the convict would have to undergo an additional oneyear imprisonment.

The verdict said that both sentences of imprisonment would run concurrently and the capital punishment was subjected to the confirmation of the high court.According to the prosecution, the senior lawyer and his young son were gunned down on March 24, 2012 near their house in Ghazi Town, Bakra Piri area of Malir minutes af ter they left for courts in a rickshaw.

Accused Moshin was arrested on April 27, 2012 and he led the police to the house of his accomplices. The police raided the house and in a shootout police constable Pervez and accused Fida alias Fidu Maliri were killed and some other policemen sustained injuries, it added.

It said that Abid was arrested and a Kalashnikov was seized from him. His accomplices, Asif Baloch and Ishaq, managed to escape. The detained accused disclosed that they killed the lawyers on the instigation of Fida, it concluded.

The double murder case was registered under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 109 (abetment) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997. The second case was registered under Sections 302, 324 (attempted murder), 353 (criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 34 of the PPC read with Section 7 of the ATA.

Abid was also booked in an illicit weapon case.

Defence plea for transfer of PTI leader murder case dismissed An antiterrorism court dismissed on Wednesday an application of the defence seeking the transfer of a case pertaining to the murder of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Zahra Shahid to a sessions court.

Mohammad Rashid alias Master and Zahid Abbas Zaidi along with their absconding accomplices have been booked for allegedly killing the PTI leader on May 18, 2013 inside her Defence residence.

Suspect Rashid, through his counsel,moved an application under Section 23 (power to transfer cases to regular courts) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 for transfer of the case to a sessions court on the ground that the offence did not fall within the ambit of the ATA.

After hearing arguments from both sides, Judge Saleem Raza Baloch of the ATC-IH turned down the application.

A case was registered under Sections 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the ATA at the Gizri police station.

Accused gets bail in Pappu murder case Another ATC on Wednesday granted bail to an accused in the Arshad Pappu murder case.

Judge Akhlag Hussain Larak of the ATCVH granted bail to Abdul Rehman against a surety bond of Rs200,000.

Pakistan Peoples Party MNA from Lyari Shahjehan Baloch, ex-SHO Javed Baloch, then inspector Yousuf Baloch, Zubair Baloch, Zakir Dada and the applicant have been charged with killing Arshad Pappu, the alleged leader of an infamous Lyari gang, his brother Yasir Arafat and their confidant Juma Shera in March 2013.

On a previous hearing, the court was informed that the original statements of two prosecution witnesses recorded by a judicial magistrate under Section 164 of the criminal procedure code were missing.

The special public prosecutor informed the court on Wednesday that the prosecution had copies of the statements, but one of the defence lawyers raised objection and contended that the photocopies were not admissible in court.

The hearing was adjourned till March 12 when the court is likely to take up the matter about the missing statements.