IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN 
(Appellate Jurisdiction) 
 
 
 
PRESENT: 
Mr. Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel 
Mr. Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed 
 
 
 
Criminal Petition No.1149-L/2017 & Criminal Petition 
NO.905-L of 2016 
(Against the order dated 08.06.2016 of the Lahore High Court, 
Lahore passed in Cr.A. No.579/2012 with M.R. No.177 of 2012) 
 
 
 
Nasir alias Nasiree 
(in Cr.P.1149-L/2017) 
Shahbaz Ahmed 
(in Cr.P.905-L/2016) 
 
 
 
…Petitioner(s) 
 
 
 
 
 
Versus 
 
 
The State 
(in Cr.P.1149-L/2017) 
The State & another  
(in Cr.P.905-L/2016) 
 
…Respondent(s) 
 
 
For the Petitioner(s): 
Mian Muhammad Ismail Thaheem, ASC 
 
(in Cr.P.1149-L/2017) 
 
Mr. M. Safdar Shaheen Pirzada, ASC 
 
Syed Rifaqat Hussain Shah, AOR 
 
(in Cr.P.905-L/2016) 
 
For the State: 
Mirza M. Usman,  
 
Deputy Prosecutor General Punjab 
 
Date of hearing: 
29.01.2021. 
 
ORDER 
 
Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed, J.  
Criminal Petition No.1149-L of 2017:  
  
 
Rizwan Ahmed, deceased, 20, alongwith Shakil Masih, 
injured (PW-2), in the backdrop of an election rivalry, were waylaid 
within the precincts of Police Station Tatleyali, District Gujranwala at 
9:30 p.m. on 11.2.2006; Shahbaz Ahmed (PW-1) lodged report with the 
police at 10:30 p.m. wherein the petitioner as well as Qaisar Mehmood 
and Parvez, supported by two companions, untraced till date were 
Criminal Petition No.1149-L/2017 & Criminal Petition NO.905-L of 2016 
 
2
arrayed as suspect. The petitioner, attributed a fatal shot to the 
deceased, stayed away from law whereas Qaisar Mehmood and Parvez 
Ahmed co-accused, assigned opening shots to the deceased and Shakil 
Masih (PW-2), respectively, were tried in his absence; convicted for 
homicide 
and 
murderous 
assault, 
they 
were 
sentenced 
to 
imprisonment for life and 10-years rigorous imprisonment; the former 
died during pendency of the case whereas the latter served out his 
sentence, reduced by the High Court. After arrest, the petitioner was 
convicted under clause (b) of section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code, 
1860, vide judgment dated 13.03.2012 by a learned Addl. Sessions 
Judge at Gujranwala; he was sentenced to death, altered into 
imprisonment for life vide impugned judgment dated 08.06.2016, vires 
whereof, are being assailed on the grounds that petitioner’s absconsion 
notwithstanding, there was no occasion for visiting him with a guilty 
verdict in a night affair with identity issue, looming large on the scene, 
merely on the strength of a misconceived and misplaced suspicion, 
rooted into a past motive that had long withered away. It is next argued 
that inconsequential recovery without any forensic comparison was 
entirely beside the mark and, thus, in absence of any corroboration, it 
was unsafe to place implicit reliance on a flawed ocular account. 
Learned Law Officer, assisted by counsel for the complainant, has 
faithfully defended the judgment. 
2. 
 
Heard. Record perused. 
3. 
 
Survival of Shahbaz Ahmed (PW-1) unscathed during the 
assault, by itself, cannot imply his absence from the scene and as such 
does not undermine his status as a witness worthy of credence; 
a closely related resident of the locality, his encounter with the 
deceased and the injured in the neighbourhood, does not raise 
eyebrows; steps taken by him after the incident are inconsonance with 
the investigative details and, thus, confirmatory to his presence.  
A somewhat lengthy cross-examination failed to tremor his testimony, 
substantially in line with the ocular account furnished by two other 
witnesses that included an injured as well; it squarely constitutes 
“proof beyond doubt” , admitting no hypothesis other than petitioner’s 
guilt whose absence from law for a period exceeding three years does 
not brilliantly reflect upon his unsupported plea of false implication;  
in retrospect, it also indemnifies the impact of inconsequential recovery 
Criminal Petition No.1149-L/2017 & Criminal Petition NO.905-L of 2016 
 
3
of a .30 caliber pistol (P-4), otherwise found consistent with the 
contours of the fatal shot. Available source of light vividly shown in the 
site plan, in the given proximity inter se the parties, the issue of 
identification, 
blown 
out 
of 
proportion, 
least 
compromises 
preponderance of overwhelming evidence, inescapably pointed on the 
culpability of the accused, each judicially taken to the task. 
Concurrent conclusions by the courts below, on our own independent 
analysis, have been found by us, well within the remit of safe 
administration of criminal justice and, thus, call for no interference. 
Petition fails. Leave declined.  
 
Criminal Petition No.905-L of 2016 
  
 
Learned counsel for the petitioner seeks withdrawal of this 
petition. Dismissed as withdrawn.  
 
 
Judge 
 
 
 
Judge 
Islamabad, the 
29th January, 2021 
Azmat/- 
