Court sentences 4 to death in case of blast outside Hafiz Saeed’s house

An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan on Wednesday sentenced four persons to death for their role in triggering a powerful car bomb blast outside JuD chief Hafiz Saeed’s house here in June last year that killed three people, according to a court official.

Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Arshad Hussain Bhutta also handed down five years imprisonment to a woman, identified as Ayesha Bibi, during the in-camera trial proceedings at the high-security Kot Lakhpat Jail here.

Three people were killed and over 20 others injured in the blast outside Hafiz Saeed’s Jauhar town residence here on June 23, 2021 that also damaged a number of houses, shops and vehicles in the area.

“The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Lahore awarded death sentence to Eid Gul of banned Tahreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Peter Paul David, Sajjad Shah and Ziaullah on nine counts. Another suspect Ayesha Bibi was handed down five years imprisonment,” the court official told PTI.

“The prosecution presented 56 witnesses against the suspects who denied their role in the blast,” he said, adding that the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) had presented challan against these five suspects.

According to the CTD, Eid Gul had installed explosives in the car used in the blast. The car belonged to Peter Paul David and other three – Sajjad Shah, Ziaullah and Ayesha – were facilitators.

The Punjab government claimed to have unearthed the network of all ‘10 Pakistani suspects’ involved in the blast. However, only five of them were indicted in the case.

Hafiz Saeed, chief of the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) has been serving jail sentence at the Kot Lakhpat Jail Lahore for his conviction in terror financing cases.