An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Lahore on Thursday convicted and sentenced to death the facilitator of the Data Darbar suicide bombing on May 8 that had left 12 people, including five Elite Force personnel, dead.
The convict, Mohsin Khan, was sentenced to death on 22 counts – 11 under the Pakistan Penal Code and 11 under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) – and to life imprisonment under the Explosive Substance Act.
Additionally, the convict has been ordered to pay compensation “at the rate of Rs0.4 million per murder” to the heirs of the deceased and Rs50,000 to each of the injured in the attack.
The case was registered on a complaint of the counterterrorism department. After today’s hearing, the court ruled that the convict’s crime had been proven by the prosecution.
According to prosecutor Abdul Rauf Wattoo, Mohsin and the bomber had entered Pakistan from Afghanistan through Torkham on May 6. “Both belonged to a banned outfit,” the prosecutor told the court.
He said that explosive material was found to have been in the convict’s possession when he was captured.
Retracing the events of the bombing, the prosecutor said that on May 8, at around 8:45am, the bomber had blown himself up near gate 2 of the Data Darbar shrine, near a vehicle of the elite force. “Eleven people, including security personnel, had been killed, and 30 had been left injured,” he said.
The prosecutor said that Mohsin hails from Shabqadar tehsil of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s town of Charsadda.
Both the facilitator and the bomber had arrived in Lahore on May 8 and had acquired residence near the shrine.
Mohsin had been arrested by the CTD on May 21. He is being held in Lahore’s Central Jail. His death sentence “shall not be executed till its confirmation by the Lahore High Court”, according to the ATC judgement.
