ATC wants fund set up for ransom payments 'if it is only way'.

Byline: Naeem Sahoutara

KARACHI -- An antiterrorism court (ATC) has asked the provincial home secretary and inspector general of police (IGP) to devise a mechanism for establishing a pool/fund for the payment of the amount of ransom if it is the only way to safely recover any persons abducted by kidnappers.

The judge of the ATC-XVI gave this observation while passing a judgment in a case pertaining to kidnapping of a man for ransom from Karachi and laundering of the money to the militant Islamic State group, also known as Daesh, for terror financing.

Mohammad Raheel Alam, 25, was abducted by four accused persons with the help of their seven alleged absconding accomplices in February 2018 within the remit of Gulistan-i-Jauhar police station.

In his judgment, a copy of which is available with Dawn, the judge observed that 'generally and in this case particularly, the abductees and their families are left at the mercy of kidnappers where lives of abductees remain under imminent danger not to talk of their honour, dignity and property unless exorbitant ransom amount is arranged by aggrieved families and paid to the kidnappers'.

He also observed that protection and security of the lives of citizens as well as their property, honour and dignity was the responsibility of the state under the Constitution and not the families and/or guardians only.

The judge said: 'It is therefore directed to the Sindh home secretary and IGP to devise a mechanism for advance payment of pool/funds of ransom amount if the only way for safe release of any abductee is the payment of ransom amount, so that firstly safety of life of an abductee under imminent danger may immediately be ensured.'

The judge added that if the ransom amount was paid (arranged by the government), it would help detect the accused without endangering the life of an abductee.

Conviction

The judge noted that the prosecution successfully proved the charges of kidnapping for ransom and common intention against the four detained accused persons, including Mukhtiar Ahmed, Naeem aka Ali, Roohullah and Ali Akbar aka Haji. The judge sentenced them all to life imprisonment.

He also awarded them three-year imprisonment each and ordered them to pay Rs50,000 fine. The accused were also told to pay Rs200,000 each as compensation to the victim for keeping him in unlawful confinement for around four months.

The judge also handed down six-year imprisonment each to the accused for committing offences of money...