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.7-P/2014 
(On appeal form the Judgment dated 
28.05.2013 passed by the Peshawar 
High Court, Peshawar in Criminal 
Appeal No.558 of 2010). 
 
State through Director ANF Peshawar 
…Appellant(s) 
VERSUS 
Fakhar Zaman 
…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.-  Fakhar Zaman, 
respondent herein, was intercepted by Anti Narcotics Force, 
Peshawar on 5.4.2009 with 82.600 kilograms of charas garda as 
well as 07 kilograms of charas pukhta; he was convicted under 
Section 9(c) of the Control of Narcotics Substances Act, 1997 vide 
judgment dated 17.5.2010 and sentenced to imprisonment for life 
along with fine of rupees fifty thousands or to undergo six months 
S.I. in lieu thereof. The learned Peshawar High Court, in appeal, 
vide impugned judgment dated 28.5.2013 upheld the conviction, 
however reduced the sentence to ten years R.I. with benefit of 
Section 382-B of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 vires 
whereof are being challenged through leave of the Court, inter alia, 
on the ground that there was no occasion for the learned High 
Court to reduce the sentence from imprisonment for life to ten 
years as according to the proviso to Section 9(c) of the Act ibid, 
lowest mandated sentence for possessing contraband in excess of 
ten kilograms is imprisonment for life and as the learned High 
Court maintained respondent’s conviction, it had no option but to 
maintain the quantum of sentence as well. 
Criminal Appeal No.7-P/2014 
 
 
2
2
2. 
 
The respondent was sent for through repeated process 
and he has found it convenient to stay away from the law; his 
absence is seemingly calculated to avoid the judicial process. It is 
by now well settled that an appellant or a respondent, though 
endowed with right of opportunity of hearing, nonetheless, cannot 
hold the process of law in abeyance to a point of time of his own 
choice and his case can be decided even in his absence if the 
default is deliberate; a case in hand.  
3. 
 
The impugned view would not commend well with the 
law, 
unambiguously 
providing 
a 
sentence, 
not 
less 
than 
imprisonment for life as well as fine in case an offender is held 
guilty of possessing contraband in excess of ten kilograms as is the 
case with the respondent and therefore impugned view taken by 
the High Court is open to exception, warranting interference by 
this Court; consequently this appeal is allowed, impugned 
judgment dated 28.5.2013 is set aside and the sentence awarded 
by the learned trial Court is restored, however with benefit of 
Section 382-B of the Code ibid. Perpetual warrants of arrest shall 
issue to arrest the respondent so as to serve out the sentence, 
handed down by the learned High Court. 
 
     
 
 
 
 
JUDGE 
 
 
 
JUDGE 
 
 
 
Islamabad, the 
30th of April, 2019 
Ghulam Raza/* 
JUDGE 
 
 
 
 
