Abdullah Umar V. The State,
PLD 2020 Balochistan 106 · Balochistan High Court
This case concerns Abdullah Umar, who was arrested for collecting donations for a banned organization, Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation. He was caught after a police constable, acting on a tip-off, gave him money which he accepted and for which he issued a receipt. He was charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act for supporting a proscribed organization. At trial, he pleaded guilty and confessed, and despite being warned of the consequences, he stuck to his confession. The trial court convicted him and gave relatively lenient sentences of six months imprisonment with small fines.
He then tried to appeal, but filed his case late - about five months behind the fifteen-day deadline set by the Anti-Terrorism Act for such appeals. He asked the court to excuse this delay under the general Limitation Act.
The Balochistan High Court rejected both his conviction appeal and his request to excuse the delay. It held that since he had pleaded guilty, the law only allowed him to challenge the fairness of his sentence, not his conviction itself. It also ruled that the Anti-Terrorism Act, being a special law with its own strict appeal deadline, overrides the general Limitation Act, and since the Anti-Terrorism Act contains no provision allowing delays to be forgiven, the court could not extend the deadline. The appeal was dismissed.
This case matters because it clarifies that special laws like the Anti-Terrorism Act impose strict, non-extendable deadlines for appeals, and that pleading guilty limits an accused's right to challen
یہ مقدمہ عبداللہ عمر سے متعلق ہے، جنہیں ایک کالعدم تنظیم، فلاح انسانیت فاؤنڈیشن کے لیے چندہ جمع کرنے کے الزام میں گرفتار کیا گیا تھا۔ انہیں اس وقت پکڑا گیا جب ایک پولیس کانسٹیبل نے، مخبری کی بنیاد پر، انہیں رقم دی جو انہوں نے قبول کر لی اور اس کے عوض رسید جاری کی۔ ان پر انسداد دہشت گردی ایکٹ کے تحت ایک کالعدم تنظیم کی حمایت کرنے کا الزام عائد کیا گیا۔ مقدمے کی سماعت کے دوران انہوں نے جرم کا اقرار کیا اور اعتراف جرم کیا، اور نتائج سے خبردار کیے جانے کے باوجود وہ اپنے اعتراف پر قائم رہے۔ ٹرائل کورٹ نے انہیں مجرم قرار دیا اور نسبتاً نرم سزا دی، یعنی چھ ماہ قید اور معمولی جرمانے۔
اس کے بعد انہوں نے اپیل دائر کرنے کی کوشش کی، مگر مقررہ مدت میں تاخیر کر دی - انسداد دہشت گردی ایکٹ کے تحت ایسی اپیلوں کے لیے مقرر کردہ پندرہ دن کی مدت سے تقریباً پانچ ماہ کی تاخیر سے۔ انہوں نے عدالت سے درخواست کی کہ عمومی قان