IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN 
(Appellate Jurisdiction) 
 
 
PRESENT:  
Mr. Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik 
Mr. Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah 
Mr. Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed 
 
Criminal Appeal No.13-P/2014 
(On appeal from the judgment dated 
12.12.2013 of the Peshawar High Court, 
Peshawar passed in Cr. Appeal No.482-
P/2013) 
 
 
The State through Regional Director ANF 
Peshawar 
…Appellant(s) 
VERSUS 
Sohail Khan 
…Respondent(s) 
 
 
For the Appellant(s) 
: Mr. Muhammad Tariq Shah, 
Special Prosecutor, ANF 
 
 
 
For the Respondent(s) 
: N.R. 
 
 
 
Date of Hearing 
: 30.04.2019 
 
ORDER 
 
Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed, J.- Sohail Khan, 
respondent herein, had been sent for through repeated process; 
instead of vindicating his position, he has opted to stay away, thus 
leaving the Court with no option to decide this appeal on merits 
with assistance of the learned Law Officer. On having been found 
in possession of 11.400 kilograms of Charas Garda, he was 
indicted before a Special Court (CNS) at Peshawar; convicted under 
Section 9(c) of the Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 1997 the 
learned trial Judge handed down sentence of five years with fine of 
rupees fifty thousand or to undergo six months S.I. in lieu thereof 
vide impugned judgment dated 21.1.2010. A learned division 
bench of the Peshawar High Court declined to enhance 
respondent’s sentence to imprisonment for life as mandated by 
law. The issue is being re-agitated through leave of the Court to 
examine whether a sentence lesser than imprisonment for life can 
be awarded to a convict with contraband exceeding ten kilograms 
in weight.  
Criminal Appeal No.13-P/2014 
 
2
2. 
 
The learned Law Officer contends that the proviso to 
Section 9(c) of the Act ibid mandatorily provides punishment of 
imprisonment for life and this left the learned High Court with no 
option but to enhance respondent’s sentence to imprisonment for 
life so as to rectify the error committed by the trial Court; it has 
also been pointed out that the respondent did not prefer appeal 
after the learned High Court maintained his conviction.  
3. 
 
The respondent by his own choice has found it 
convenient to stay away; his absence is seemingly calculated to 
avoid the process of law and certainly cannot stand in impediment 
to the disposal of this appeal; he has been found guilty of 
possessing contraband, in excess of ten kilograms; evidence of 
recovery and forensic report is inexorably pointed upon his 
culpability and thus in circumstances he was liable to be 
sentenced to imprisonment for life; magnanimity shown by the 
Courts below being outside the remit of law merits recall.  Appeal 
is allowed, impugned judgments to the extent of quantum of 
sentence are set aside. He is sentenced to Imprisonment for life 
however, the amount of fine is kept intact along side attending 
consequences. Non-bailable warrants of arrest shall issue to bring 
the respondent before the law so as to serve out sentence inflicted 
upon him.  
 
     
 
 
 
 
JUDGE 
 
 
 
JUDGE 
 
 
 
Islamabad, the 
30th of April, 2019 
Ghulam Raza/* 
JUDGE 
 
 
