QUETTA: The Balochistan High Court on Tuesday accepted the provincial government’s appeal against the acquittal of Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PMAP) leader, former provincial lawmaker and Public Accounts Committee chairman Abdul Majeed Achakzai, sentencing him to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment in the case involving the death of traffic sub-inspector Haji Ataullah.
The court also ordered him to pay blood money to the legal heirs of the deceased.
According to the Balochistan High Court, a division bench comprising Justice Muhammad Aamir Nawaz Rana and Justice Abdul Qayyum Lehri heard the government’s appeal against Achakzai’s acquittal. The court accepted the appeal and set aside the acquittal verdict announced on September 4, 2020, by the Additional Sessions Judge-VI and Model Criminal Trial Court-II, Quetta.
The high court convicted Achakzai under Section 320 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) for causing the death of traffic sub-inspector Haji Ataullah, who was on duty, by running him over while driving recklessly and negligently at high speed.
The court sentenced Achakzai to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and ordered him to pay blood money to the deceased’s legal heirs.
The high court directed the Additional Sessions Judge-VI, Quetta, to issue non-bailable arrest warrants for Achakzai, who is currently out on bail, for his immediate arrest and the implementation of the sentence.
The court also directed the relevant authorities to ensure prompt execution of the arrest warrants in accordance with the law so that Achakzai could be transferred to prison to serve his sentence.
The case
The incident took place on June 20, 2017, at GPO Chowk on Zarghoon Road in Quetta, where a speeding official Land Cruiser belonging to Achakzai hit traffic sergeant Haji Ataullah Dashti, who was on duty. Dashti sustained serious injuries and later died, while a cyclist, Abdul Ghafoor Baloch, was also injured.
Achakzai allegedly ran over the traffic sergeant after the latter signalled him to stop. The incident, initially treated as a traffic accident, came under scrutiny after CCTV footage emerged showing the vehicle hitting the officer following an exchange of words between the two. The footage went viral on social media and prompted protests by the Balochistan press. There were also reports that Achakzai was driving recklessly and was intoxicated at the time.
Police initially registered a case against unidentified persons. Following the emergence of the footage, they registered a case against Achakzai on charges of terrorism, murder, and attempted murder. He was arrested from his residence in Quetta’s Satellite Town area on June 25, 2017.
Civil Lines police subsequently submitted a challan before the Anti-Terrorism Court, but the terrorism charge was later withdrawn after police failed to establish it.
Achakzai, who was elected to the Balochistan Assembly from PB-13 Qila Abdullah in the 2013 general elections, admitted that he had been driving his official vehicle when the incident occurred. He said he would compensate the deceased traffic sergeant’s family and the injured passerby. He also intended to travel to Dera Ghazi Khan with tribal elders to meet Dashti’s family.
The case was later transferred to the Model Criminal Trial Court in Quetta, where it remained under trial for around three years.
On September 4, 2020, the Model Criminal Trial Court acquitted Achakzai, ruling that the prosecution had failed to establish that he was driving the vehicle when the incident occurred.
In its 29-page written judgment, Judge Dost Muhammad Mandokhail noted that none of the 20 prosecution witnesses, including eyewitnesses and the deceased’s brother, had identified Achakzai as the driver of the vehicle.
The judgment said the police had initially registered the FIR against unidentified persons but did not conduct an identification parade after nominating Achakzai as an accused.
The court observed that the CCTV footage did not establish who was driving the vehicle. It also noted contradictions and omissions in prosecution witnesses’ statements and said the case had not been proved beyond reasonable doubt.
Achakzai had denied the allegations in his statement recorded under Section 342 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, claiming that his driver had been behind the wheel and that he was not in the vehicle.
The trial court consequently acquitted him of the charges under sections 302, 324, 279, 337 and 427 of the PPC. The provincial government later challenged the acquittal before the Balochistan High Court.
