January 2, 2003	Thursday	Shawwal 28, 1423

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LAHORE, Jan 1: An anti-terrorism court granted bail on Wednesday to Dr Ahmad Javed Khwaja and Naveed Ahmad Khwaja, who are being tried on charges of indulging in anti-state activities and creating law and order problem.

The court said both the accused should be released forthwith if they were not required in any other case and that they furnished bail bonds of Rs100,000 each. The police have already been directed to file a complete challan of the case on Thursday.

Despite the ATC order, the accused will remain in jail because they, along with Dr Umar Karar, Dr Khizar Ali and Mohammad Usman, have already been detained for a period of three months under an interior ministry order.

The court observed that all the charges levelled against them in the FIR except one did not fall into prohibitory clauses (those offences mentioned in the Pakistan Penal Code in which bail cannot be granted) and were bailable offences.

According to the court, the offence of indiscriminate firing on the police officials, which was a non-bailable offence, was yet to be probed further and the forensic expert report on 10 empties of 30-bore pistol and 15 empties of a Kalashnikov alleged to be collected outside the house of the two accused was also awaited.