LAHORE:Rehmat Shah Afridi’s case was the first in the legal history of Pakistan in which audio and videotapes were accepted as evidence. The tapes, recorded by the Anti Narcotics Force (ANF), showed Mr Afridi apparently making deals to sell drugs to customers.

Special Prosecutor Khawaja Sultan Ahmad said that the video proved that Mr Afridi was meeting undercover agents, who were trying to make a deal with him to buy drugs. In the video, Mr Afridi was seen offering a pack of cigarettes to another person. The ANF lawyer said the appellant was actually showing a sample of hashish to an undercover agent. A voice purported to be that of Mr Afridi also suggested that he would never deal in dangerous drugs such as heroin because they had killed of hundreds of youths. Khawaja Sultan pointed out that Mr Afridi did not say that he would not deal in hashish.

Mr Afridi’s lawyer raised several objections to the video, saying that it was of poor quality and the voices could also not be made out. The lawyer said the videos were never subjected to sonographic tests, did not display time nor date and the law in Pakistan and in many other countries did not accept video and audiocassettes in evidence. He said that undercover agents or videocassettes were not mentioned in the First Information Report.

Mr Afridi’s lawyer said a video would only have evidentiary value if it was of excellent quality, the person making the video and arranging the recording appeared in court as prosecution witness and the lip movement of the persons shown in the video synchronised with the voice in the video. He said the videocassettes produced as evidence against Mr Afridi did not fulfill any of these conditions and therefore had no evidentiary value.

At the initial stages of the trial, prominent Lahore lawyers appeared for the defence, but later quit. The case was taken over by Sargodha lawyer Ehsan Qadir Shah who argued that the case was based on the mala fide intent of the Nawaz Sharif government. The Frontier Post had published several reports critical of the Nawaz government.

On the day the verdict was to be announced, the court was cordoned off and Mr Afridi was brought to the court in an armoured security van accompanied by a large force of police commandoes. Mr Afridi was kept in the van until the judge arrived, not being allowed to speak to journalists or even his son Jalil. Journalists were not allowed inside the courtroom either. The judge took a few minutes to announce his verdict. ANF officials then quickly took Mr Afridi back to the van, but before boarding, he kissed his son and handed him a copy of the judgement.

According to the prosecution, the ANF, on a tip-off, impounded Mr Afrid’s Mercedes outside a five-star hotel on The Mall in Lahore on April 12, 1999 and found 20 kilogrammes of hashish inside. Mr Afridi was charged in two cases while his driver Misel Khan and cleaner Abdul Malik were charged in one.

lagta hai bhai k aap qanoon ki ABC say waqif naheeN

jis par ilzaam lagayaa jata hai, ospar yeh zaroori nahi k woh apnay ooper lagaye howay ilzaam ko ghalat sabit karay yaa adalat jaaye............ yeh ilzaam laganay walay ka kaam hai k woh jiss par ilzaam lagaa rahaa hai, oskay khilaaf case karay aur adalat maiN apna ilzaam saabit karkay mulzim ko sazaa dil.waa.ay.

aap yeh mash.warah afridi ko dain k woh nawaaz k khilaaf case karay aur adalat mai apnay ilzaam ko saabit karay.... if u know abcd of qanoon n adaalat. other wise farz karaiN k maiN aap par ilzaam lagaataa houN HC k plate form say k aap 9/11 k zimmah daar haiN...... ab aap adalat jayaiN aur meray iss ilzaam ko ghalat sabit karaiN