QUETTA: The Balochistan High Court on Tuesday sentenced former lawmaker Abdul Majeed Achakzai to 10 years in prison for the death of a traffic policeman in a 2017 hit-and-run, overturning his acquittal.
A two-judge bench comprising Justices Muhammad Amir Nawaz Rana and Abdul Qayyum Lehr allowed an appeal by the provincial government against the Sept. 4, 2020, acquittal and set aside the lower court's decision.
Achakzai was convicted under Section 320 of the Pakistan Penal Code, which covers punishment for qatl-i-khata, unintentional killing, by rash or negligent driving, for causing the death of Traffic Sub-Inspector Haji Attaullah. He was also ordered to pay diyat, or blood money, to the deceased's legal heirs. The court directed an additional sessions judge in Quetta to issue non-bailable arrest warrants for Achakzai.
Attaullah was killed in June 2017 when a speeding vehicle struck him at GPO Chowk in Quetta as he performed his duties. The former lawmaker was returning from the Balochistan Assembly after attending a session when the vehicle hit the officer, who suffered serious injuries and later died at a hospital.
Police initially registered an accident case against unidentified persons. After CCTV footage of the incident spread on social media and was repeatedly broadcast by television channels, Balochistan police lodged a manslaughter case against Achakzai, a member of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party.
An anti-terrorism court granted him bail six months later, and a local Quetta court acquitted him in 2020, prompting the police appeal.
Achakzai is a close relative of opposition leader and PkMAP chairman Mehmood Khan Achakzai. He was elected to the Balochistan Assembly twice, served as a provincial cabinet minister and chaired the assembly's Public Accounts Committee.
