IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN 
(Appellate Jurisdiction) 
 
 
PRESENT: 
Mr. Justice Faisal Arab 
Mr. Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed 
 
 
Jail Petition No.430 of 2015 
(Against judgment dated 10.03.2015 passed by the 
Peshawar High Court Bannu Bench in Crl. Appeal 
No.29-B of 2013) 
 
Islam Sharif 
  
 
…Petitioner(s) 
 
 
 
 
 
Versus 
 
The State 
…Respondent(s) 
 
For the Petitioner(s): 
Mr. Rizwan Ejaz, ASC 
 
For the State: 
Malik Akhtar, A.A.G. KPK  
 
Date of hearing: 
03.03.2020. 
 
JUDGMENT 
 
 
 
Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed, J.- Islam Sharif, 
petitioner, indicted for committing Qatl-i-Amd of Dr. Sahib Jan on 
3.9.1991 within the precincts of Police Station Ghoriwala, District 
Bannu was returned a guilty verdict by a learned Addl. Sessions 
Judge vide judgment 11.2.2013; convicted under clause (b) of 
Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860, he was sentenced to 
imprisonment for life, upheld by a learned Judge in Chamber of 
Peshawar High Court vide impugned judgment dated 10.3.2015, 
vires whereof are being assailed on a variety of grounds that 
include 
improbability 
of 
presence 
of 
witnesses, 
issue 
of 
identification owing to darkness, absence of casing as well as 
prosecution’s failure to recover the weapon.  
2. 
 
Prosecution case is structured upon ocular account 
furnished by deceased sons, namely, Saifullah (PW-4) and 
Inayatullah (PW-5); according to them, on the fateful morning, 
shortly before Fajjar prayer, they followed the deceased, en route to 
a nearby mosque; when the petitioner confronted the deceased 
with a fire shot. Dispute over a house is cited motive for the crime. 
Jail Petition No.430 of 2015 
 
 
2
Autopsy conducted at 8:00 a.m. confirmed solitary fire shot as 
being the cause of death.  The petitioner stayed away from law and 
was finally apprehended as late as on 24.3.2011 to face trial.  
3. 
 
Heard. Record perused. 
4. 
 
It is in evidence that the petitioner as well as the 
deceased lived in the same rural neighbourhood; dispute over the 
house has been raging since the year 1982 and, thus, it can be 
safely assumed that the both sides were well acquainted with each 
other. Fajjar prayer is held shortly before dawn with the recession 
of darkness; in such a situation, identification of the culprit by the 
witnesses, proceeding in close proximity with the deceased, in the 
month of September, particularly in view of long standing 
acquaintance, cannot be viewed with suspicion; their joint 
departure with the deceased to offer prayer in the nearby mosque 
is a usual pursuit, particularly in a rural neighbourhood of Khyber 
Pakhtun Khaw. There appears no earthly reason for the witnesses 
to swap the assassin of their elderly father with an innocent.  
Totality of circumstances that, inter-alia, includes an ongoing 
dispute as well as petitioner’s longstanding absconsion spreading 
over almost two decades unmistakably suggest petitioner’s 
culpability; there was no occasion for recovery of the weapon in the 
wake of petitioner’s long disappearance from the scene. Both the 
witnesses, inmates of the same premises, despite lapse of 
considerable time furnished graphic details of the occurrence, in a 
manner found by us consistent, straightforward and confidence 
inspiring; cross-examination remained inconsequential. Finding of 
guilt, concurred by both the courts below is not open to any 
legitimate exception. Petition fails. Leave declined.  
 
 
 
Judge 
 
 
Judge 
Islamabad, the 
3rd March, 2020 
Not approved for reporting 
Azmat/-