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Pakistani airmen with terror links sentenced |
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Pakistan’s military courts have sentenced three Air Force personnel to prison terms ranging from two to nine years for alleged links with the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed group.
The trials were not announced, but relatives of the Air Force personnel said they had taken place in two southern airbases between October and December, The News said.
It said Air Force spokesman Air Commodore Sarfraz Ahmad would not confirm the court-martial proceedings and noted that military trials in Pakistan are often shrouded in secrecy.
Aslam Khattak, a former Air Force Chief Warrant Officer and father of Nasruminallah Khattak, one of those sentenced, said the three airmen were accused of giving donations to the Jaish and of receiving small arms training at the group’s camp in Balakot. Aslam claimed that his son was innocent.
Nasruminallah, 18, was sentenced to two years in prison, as was Saeed Alam, 19. Another young airman, Munir Ahmed, was given a nine-year sentence, said Abdus Samad, Ahmed’s brother.
President Pervez Musharraf outlawed the Jaish in 2001 as part of efforts to tackle terrorism.
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