FAISALABAD, April 6: Police played a tricky game in the case of Wajahat Ali, whose eyes were badly damaged in the acid attack, as appropriate sections of law were not included in the FIR, say lawyers.

District bar president Tanvir Randhawa said circumstances evidently showed that a novel method of injecting acid into the eyes of victim required Anti Terrorism Act (ATA) sections. He said the police had deliberately not booked the accused under the ATA.

He said section 6 of the act reads: A person is said to commit a terrorist act if he, (a) in order to, or if the effect of his actions will be to, strike terror or create a sense of fear and insecurity in the people, or any section of the people.

The DBA chief said that the police did know about the inclusion of mandatory ATA sections in Wajahat Ali’s case, but they ignored the reality only to weaken the case. He said the DBA would provide free legal aid to the victim.

Accused Asif Dogar, believed to be a close relative of a senior police officer, and Inzimam, had on March 23 injected acid into the eyes of Wajahat, a helper at a billboard shop.

Requesting anonymity, a member of Wajahat’s family said that the police were rather trying to implicate them in a false case to force us for reconciliation.

He said some members of the accused party with the alleged connivance of the police had visited Allied Hospital and threatened them with dire consequences if they did not reconcile with the accused.

About a month back, he said the accused had also attacked Wajahat Ali with some sharp-edged weapons. Despite injuries to Wajahat, he said we had tendered apology to the family of the accused.

Niaz Muhammad, a daily wager, is much worried about the future of his son. He said the accused party members should inform him if his son had done any thing wrong. The act of the accused had ruined the future of his son, he said.

DIG (operations) Muhammad Aslam Tareen said that special duties had been assigned to honest officers and nobody would be spared at any cost.

He said legal opinion would also be sought, if required, keeping in view the intensity of the incident.

It may be mentioned that an anti-terrorism court judge of Bahawalpur on Dec 12, 2003 announced a punishment with Qisas ordering removing any eye of the convict, Sajjad. The convict had thrown acid on the face of a girl, Rabia, damaging her both eyes. — Mohammad Saleem