ATC awards 16-year jail term to Islamabad standoff accused

ISLAMABAD: An Anti-Terrorism Court on Thursday awarded 16 years jail term to Muhammad Sikander, the main accused of the Islamabad red zone standoff in 2013, ARY News reported.

The court acquitted his wife in 2013 incident at Islamabad’s Blue Area.

Sikander who had held his family members hostage in Islamabad, was also fined Rs110,000 by the court.

The armed man on August 15, 2013, opened fire in the heavily guarded red zone of Islamabad after slipping past the capital’s several checkpoints.

According to eyewitnesses, he was holding a sub-machine gun and a Kalashnikov. Police officers during the standoff tried to hold talks with him to convince him for surrender but failed to do so.

He was later shot and seriously wounded by police officials to wind up the dramatic standoff less than a kilometre’s distance from the presidency and parliament buildings.