DATE=8/21/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=PAK KILINGS / L
NUMBER=2-252984
BYLINE=SCOTT ANGER
DATELINE=ISLAMABAD
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A Pakistani court has convicted and sentenced
to death two men for murdering four U-S citizens and
their Pakistani driver in, Karachi, almost two years
ago. From Islamabad, correspondent Scott Anger
reports.
TEXT: A special anti-terrorism court in Karachi has
found Mohammad Salim and Ahmed Saeed guilty of
ambushing and killing four Americans employed by the
Houston-based Union Texas Petroleum company. The four
men and their Pakistani driver were gunned down during
daylight hours while traveling to their offices in
Pakistan's southern port city.
The killings came two days after a court in the U-S
state of Virginia convicted a Pakistani man of murder
in the 1993 shootings of two Central Intelligence
Agency employees outside the agency's headquarters.
Although Pakistani police say the Karachi killings
were in response to the Virginia conviction, no formal
link has ever been made.
Charges had been filed against Salim and Saeed in
January this year. The pair have denied any
involvement in the killings and are expected to appeal
the conviction.
The two are members of the M-Q-M opposition political
party in Karachi, which has accused Pakistani Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif's government of harassment. Mr.
Sharif imposed direct federal rule in Sindh province
last October after the M-Q-M broke with his Pakistan
Muslim League Party. Prime Minister Sharif has set up
special anti-terrorism courts to combat rising
violence in Pakistan's largest city. He blames the M-
Q-M for much of the violence, which has claimed more
than 800 lives in the last year.
A police charge sheet has also named the M-Q-M's
exiled leader, along with eight others, as being
involved in the murders. The party denies it has any
links to the killings and says the special court,
which convicted the two men, has been set up outside
the limits of Pakistan's constitution.
In February, Pakistan's Supreme Court struck down the
use of special military courts which Prime Minister
Sharif established to dispense - what he called -
quick justice. The court ruled the military courts
illegal and unconstitutional, two months after they
carried out death sentences against two M-Q-M
activists. Prime Minister Sharif then set-up these
special anti-terrorism courts to be used in the place
of the military tribunals. (Signed)
NEB/SA/JO
21-Aug-1999 08:17 AM EDT (21-Aug-1999 1217 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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