A pakistani court has sentenced the Taliban’s military chief to life imprisonment in absentia for trying to kill a member of parliament, a court official said on Thursday.An anti-terrorism court in the southwestern town of Quetta handed down the sentence on Wednesday to Mullah Dadullah, as well as to two Pakistani supporters who were present in court, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.Three other Afghans who, like Dadullah, are at large, received the same sentence, while a third Pakistani was acquitted, the official said.Maulana Mohammad Khan Sherani, of the Jamiat Ulema-I-Islam (JUI) escaped unhurt when a landmine was detonated by remote control near his car in the southwestern province of Baluchistan on November 18, 2004.JUI is part of Pakistan’s pro-Taliban opposition Islamist alliance, but in Baluchistan it is allied with the ruling coalition and Sherani has been more conciliatory towards President Pervez Musharraf than most other party members.Sherani’s lawyer Kamran Murtaza said the charge against Dadullah was based on statements by the two Pakistanis convicted that they had set off the landmine on his orders.
