Brigadier Ali Khan received 5 years Rigorous Imprisonment (RI), Major Sohail Akbar has been handed down 3 years RI while Major Jawad Baseer was sentenced to 2 years RI, whereas Major Inayat Aziz and Major Iftikhar have been awarded 1 year 6 months RI each.

A ISPR statement said, all four convicts have the right to an appeal before the Army court of appeals according to the Pakistan Army Act.

This is the first time senior army officers have been convicted a jailed over charges of having links with banned or proscribed organisations in the country.

Hizbut Tahrir is the alleged banned organisation although the ISPR did not mention any name.

Khan was detained days after Osama Bin Laden's death in Abbottababad on May 2 last year. Khan has been accused of conspiring to topple the government and mutiny within the ranks and planning an attack on the GHQ.

Proceedings against Ali started in December 2011.

He was arrested a year ago on charges of conspiring with five others including a British member of the Hizbut Tahrir to recruit officers including the commander of the 111 Brigade historically associated with army coups in the past.

Hizbut Tahrir is not banned in Britain but is a banned outfit in Pakistan.

Like all outfits of its kind it aims to inculcate the Islamic way of life.

Since Osama Bin Laden was killed last year, Pakistan has been under increasing pressure from the US to crack down on extremist and terrorist elements within its borders especially the periphery with Afghanistan on the northwestern side of the country.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2012