Blue Area firing: ATC sentences Sikandar to 16 years in prison, acquits wife

ISLAMABAD - Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) in Islamabad sentenced prime suspect of Blue Area firing case, Sikandar, to 16 years imprisonment along with imposing a hefty fine.

ATC judge Kausar Abbas Ziadi acquitted the wife of Sikander but convicted him for blocking the main road, halting traffic, not cooperating with authorities and troubling the masses.

Sikander has been fined Rs. 110,000 as well and for failing to submit the fine, he would say for another six months in jail.

The issue of Sikandar kept the masses glued to the television screens as he along his wife and children blocked capital's thoroughfare for hours and openly fired gun shots, back in 2013.

During the six-hour GTA (Grand Theft Auto) style standoff, Sikandar presented several demands including implementation of Sharia in the country, and a safe exit for his children and others.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQRZg63mC8M

The hostility ended when PPP leader Zamurd Khan reached the site late night, duped him into negotiations and abruptly tried to get hold of him. Sikander lost his balance and ran away but fired several shots though Khan remained unhurt.

Police that was keeping an eye on the whole drama for hours shot Sikandar in the legs, injuring him and then arrested him. He was hospitalised at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences while the police in its charge sheet accused him of putting innocent lives at risk and using children as human shields.

Sikander's wife, Kanwal was released on bail from Adiala Jail in October 2013. She was originally indicted by the police for assisting her husband in a terrorist act and obstructing the action of law enforcement groups during the incident.

However, Kanwal’s lawyer had contested that she was a victim herself, used by her husband. Kanwal has now been set free by the Anti Terrorism Court.

The apparently open and shut case kept languishing in courts for three years.