June 03, 2007	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 17, 1428

RAWALPINDI, June 2: Anti-Terrorism Court No. 1 Special Judge Tariq Abbasi on Saturday put off the hearing in the Shazia Mubashir case till June 14 as her counsel did not appear before the court in the wake of the lawyers’ boycott on the occasion of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry’s address to the District Bar Association (DBA) Abbottabad.

The court had to take up a petition by Ms Mubashir seeking immunity from retrial, as she along with eight male accused had already been tried by an army court for allegedly conspiring and planning the December 25, 2003, suicide attacks on President Pervez Musharraf.

According to details, two extremists rammed their explosive- laden vehicles into the president’s convoy killing 15 people mostly security personnel and passers-by. However, President Musharraf narrowly escaped the attempts on his life.

The eight other members of the group including Shazia’s husband, Rana Naveed, were convicted by the army court. She was acquitted by the army court and a separate case was filed against her in the anti-terrorist court in August 2005.

Police could not complete and present the challan till August 2006 when her lawyers moved a petition seeking her release pleading that she could not be retired on the same charges.

In January this year her lawyers also moved the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi bench seeking her acquittal citing the decision of the army court that had freed her.

The LHC asked the Assistant Advocate General Punjab to produce the verdict of the army court. According to the copy of the decision presented in the court on May 10 after the lapse of four months, Shazia was absolved from the charges by the army court.

The advocate general said that she had only been freed from sedition charges and could be tried for other charges such as murder and possession of explosives under the anti-terrorism act. The lawyers of Shazia withdrew their petition for acquittal saying they wanted to add more points.

In the last hearing on May 24, Shazia’s lawyers had moved a fresh acquittal petition before the ATC and the court was due to take up the appeal on Saturday but could not do so owing to the lawyers’ boycott. The petitioner along with her minor son had been under arrest since January 2004.