KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court in Karachi sentenced a man to multiple life terms on Thursday for illegally entering Pakistan, maintaining contact with intelligence agency RAW and possessing explosives and firearms, according to court documents seen by Arab News.
The case comes against the backdrop of longstanding accusations that India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) sponsors militancy and espionage on Pakistani soil, a charge New Delhi denies. The most high-profile case was that of Kulbhushan Jadhav, a former Indian naval officer arrested in 2016 and sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court for alleged espionage. India disputes the conviction and has challenged it at the International Court of Justice.
Muhammad Saleem, who prosecutors said crossed into Pakistan illegally from India in 1989 and later obtained Pakistani identity documents, was arrested in October 2024 in Karachi’s Mauripur area. Police said they recovered a hand grenade with a detonator, a bomb launcher, a pistol with 10 live rounds and two Pakistani passports from his possession.
It was unclear if the man was an India national before 1989 and whether he still held Indian nationality. Anila Malik, the prosecutor of the case, said the prosecution proved that Saleem had illegally entered Pakistan, but his nationality was not discussed during the hearings. The court has also not used the word Indian national or Indian in its court order.
