- Petitioners plead court to end punishments as convicts had ‘served enough’
The Sindh High Court (SHC) has once again directed the interior secretary to provide information about verified quantity of contraband narcotics seized from two convicts in Sri Lanka, who were languishing in Karachi Central Prison since their repatriation after serving life term in Sri Lanka.
Two-judge bench headed by Justice Ahmed Ali M Sheikh was seized with two identical petitions of Fareed Khan and Nadeem Anwar, who were handed down life term for possessing narcotics by the Sri Lankan court.
The petitioners were repatriated after fulfilment of all the formalities and conditions of Section 6 of the Transfer of Offender Ordinance, 2002.
The counsel of petitioner, Fareed Khan, stated that he reached Sri Lanka on May 17, 2007 and was arrested the same day for possessing contraband narcotics. He said he was given life term in the case, although no quantity of the seized contraband stuff was specified in the judgment of the Sri Lankan court. He was transferred to the country on August 6, 2012. He said that he had already served over five years in the jail abroad and was entitled to lesser punishment as the quantity of the narcotics was not specified.
Another petitioner, Nadeem Anwar stated that he was arrested in Sri Lanka on October 10, 2004 and was charged with possession of 316 grams of heroin. He was transferred to Pakistan on July 30, 2012. The petitioners asked the court to order their release as they had already served sufficient sentences.