RAWALPINDI - A Pakistan anti-terrorism court Monday sentenced a former leader of a banned sectarian party to six months in jail for hate speech, part of a crackdown after last year's deadly Peshawar school attack.
Mufti Tanveer Alam Farooqi, a former Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat (ASWJ) Rawalpindi president, was jailed for six months and fined 50,000 rupees by the court in Rawalpindi, according to an official there.
ASWJ is considered to be the political face of extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), behind numerous bloody attacks on minority Shiite Muslims.
ASJW was officially banned in 2012 but had previously been operating freely, holding rallies and gatherings across the country.
Mufti Tanveer is on CTD Punjab's most wanted list and was previously taken into custody by Rangers after weapons without licenses were recovered from him and eight others.
Earlier this year, the ASWJ leader was arrested by the Counter-Terrorism Department which had registered a First-Information Report under Section 9 of the Anti-Terrorism Act against Tanveer for hate speech. He was later granted bail in the case.
The accused was arrested from court and will be imprisoned in Rawalpindi's Adiala jail.