IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN 
(Appellate Jurisdiction) 
 
PRESENT: 
Mr. Justice Mushir Alam, Chairman  
Mr. Justice Sardar Tariq Masood 
Mr. Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed 
Dr. Muhammad Al-Ghazali, Ad-hoc Member-I 
Dr. Muhammad Khalid Masud, Ad-hoc Member-II 
 
 
 
 
Jail Shariat Petition No.03(s)/2020 
(Against the judgment dated 08.02.2009 of the Federal  
Shariat Court passed in Appeal No.7-I of 2018) 
 
 
 
Muhammad Yaqoob  
 
 
 
…Petitioner(s) 
 
 
 
 
 
Versus 
 
 
The State  
 
…Respondent(s) 
 
 
For the Petitioner(s): 
Nemo.  
 
For the Respondent(s): 
Mr. Salim Akhter Buriro, Additional 
Prosecutor General. 
 
Date of hearing: 
02.12.2020. 
 
ORDER 
 
 
 
Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed:- Petitioner is amongst the 
accused in a crime that occurred way back on 20.3.1992 within the 
precincts of Police Station Ahmed Pur of District Khairpur, wherein two 
members of a police contingent, detached at Jamea Mosque Mehaisar 
Wadda Taluka Kingri to guard the Taravih prayers, were martyred in 
the line of duty. According to the crime report, on the fateful night, 12 
assailants, differently armed, were resisted by the contingent in their 
attempt to abduct some of the worshipers; two of them, namely, 
Ibrahim Sandelu and Laloo Sher, opened fire with automatic weapons, 
followed by the remainders; the contingent returned fire whereupon the 
assailants took to the heels into a nearby jungle. As the guns went 
silent, Mukhtar Hussain, PC/12586, aged 25 and Abdul Razzaq, 
PC/11302, aged 28, were found to have succumbed to multiple bullet 
injuries. The assailants took away official weapons with them and it is 
Jail Shariat Appeal No.3(s) of 2020 
 
2
in this backdrop that they were indicted on the coordinate charge of 
Haraba as well.  
 
Specifically named in the crime report, the petitioner was arrested 
after almost quarter of a century to claim trial that culminated into his 
conviction on the charge of homicide; he was sentenced to 
imprisonment for life vide judgment dated 30.01.2017, upheld by the 
Federal Shariat Court vide impugned judgment dated 08.02.2019 
under section 302 (b) of the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860, vires whereof 
are being assailed on a variety of grounds ranging from the question of 
identity during dark hours to the absence of evidence to connect the  
petitioner with any specific shot as well as prosecution’s failure to 
effect recovery either of weapon of offence or official weapons snatched 
during the occurrence. The learned Law Officer has faithfully defended 
the judgment by referring to various parts of evidence produced by the 
prosecution that, according to him, successfully drove home the charge 
by excluding every hypothesis of petitioner’s innocence; his absence 
from law for an exasperating length of time, heavily reflected upon his 
culpability, concluded the learned Law Officer. 
3. 
 
Heard. Record perused. 
4. 
 
We have gone through the evidence furnished, amongst 
others, by Abdul Hadi (PW-1), Ali Mardan (PW-2) and Iqbal Hussain 
(PW-3) with extra care and caution to explore any possibility of finding 
an exit for the petitioner, however, found the witnesses unanimously 
pointing their fingers for his having participated in the occurrence, 
being an active member of the unlawful assembly, constituted in 
prosecution of a common object, a pursuit that resulted into the death 
of two police constables in their prime youth; they laid their lives to 
protect unsuspecting worshipers. Despite flux of considerable time, the 
witnesses confidently recollected the incident and faced the cross-
examination without embarrassment though Iqbal Hussain (PW-3) 
somehow omitted to name the petitioner in his examination-in-chief, 
however, the defence rectified the error through an indiscreet 
suggestion, vehemently denied by the faltering witness. Prosecution’s 
failure to effect recovery after almost 25 years of the incident does not 
surprise us nor adversely reflects upon its case otherwise firmly 
structured on the statements of the witnesses whose presence at the 
crime scene cannot be suspected. Argument that it cannot be assumed 
with any degree of certainty that the shots allegedly fired by the 
Jail Shariat Appeal No.3(s) of 2020 
 
3
petitioner had trapped any of the deceased is entirely beside the mark; 
community of intention is a valid concept to entail corporeal 
consequences, if in the circumstances of a particular case, like one in 
hand, participation of an offender is reasonably established through 
credible evidence; the deceased certainly died of the bullets conjointly 
fired upon them as is evident from the seizure of as many as 90 
casings from the spot and, thus, petitioner alongside the co-accused is 
equally culpable to share the cumulative impact of the assault. 
Presence of electric lights at the mosque presented ample opportunity 
for the identification of assailants, each named in the crime report. 
Darkness by itself does not provide immunity to an offender if the 
witnesses otherwise succeed to capture/ascertain his identity through 
available means, conspicuously mentioned in the crime report. On our 
independent analysis, the totality of circumstances does not space any 
hypothesis other than petitioner’s guilt and, thus, do not find ourselves 
in a position to take a view different than concurrently taken by the 
courts below. Petition fails. Leave declined.   
 
 
 
 
Chairman 
 
 
Member 
 
Member 
 
 
Member 
 
Member 
Islamabad, the 
2nd December, 2020 
Not approved for reporting 
Azmat/-