ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has sentenced to death five naval officers for their involvement in a deadly attack on a Karachi dockyard in 2014, the father of one of the men and their lawyer said Tuesday.
The September 2014 attack on the Pakistan Navy Shipyard (PNS) Zulfiqar left one Pakistani officer and three attackers dead, while seven sailors were wounded.
Reports in Pakistan’s Dawn and the Wall Street Journal later said the militants wanted to hijack a frigate in order to attack US Navy patrol vessels in the northwest Indian Ocean.
“My son has informed me that a naval court has awarded him and four other officers the death penalty for charges such as having links with Daesh terror group, mutiny, hatching a conspiracy and carrying weapons in the dockyard,” said Saeed Ahmed, a retired army major and father of one of the convicted men, sub-lieutenant Hammad Ahmed.
The alleged ties to Daesh contradicts the Pakistani Taliban’s claim of responsibility at the time.
Al Qaeda’s then newly-formed South Asia chapter also claimed responsibility. Al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban have carried out joint operations for years, but both are hostile to Daesh which is an upstart in the region.
Ahmed added his son was convicted on April 12 but he only became aware of it last week when he visited him in prison. “My son was denied the right to a fair trial,” he said.
The September 2014 attack on the Pakistan Navy Shipyard (PNS) Zulfiqar left one Pakistani officer and three attackers dead, while seven sailors were wounded.
Reports in Pakistan’s Dawn and the Wall Street Journal later said the militants wanted to hijack a frigate in order to attack US Navy patrol vessels in the northwest Indian Ocean.
“My son has informed me that a naval court has awarded him and four other officers the death penalty for charges such as having links with Daesh terror group, mutiny, hatching a conspiracy and carrying weapons in the dockyard,” said Saeed Ahmed, a retired army major and father of one of the convicted men, sub-lieutenant Hammad Ahmed.
The alleged ties to Daesh contradicts the Pakistani Taliban’s claim of responsibility at the time.
Al Qaeda’s then newly-formed South Asia chapter also claimed responsibility. Al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban have carried out joint operations for years, but both are hostile to Daesh which is an upstart in the region.
Ahmed added his son was convicted on April 12 but he only became aware of it last week when he visited him in prison. “My son was denied the right to a fair trial,” he said.
