ISLAMABAD: It is difficult to decide whether Mohammad Zubair, who lives at home despite being placed in the fourth schedule of Anti Terrorism Act (ATA) and has to report to the Rawalpindi police, is lucky or ill fated, as he is no longer officially accused of any crime.

However, he continues to live with the fear that one day he may be called in and tried for charges that were levelled against him two years ago, verbally.

In fact, this is a story that is less about Zubair’s luck and more about the haphazard manner in which the Pakistani system apprehends and tries terrorism suspects.

Zubair, a resident of Afshan Colony of Rawalpindi, was apprehended in June 2009 along with 42 other suspects – all of them were allegedly involved in planning or executing deadly terrorist attacks across Pakistan.

Zubair, a resident of Afshan Colony, was apprehended in June 2009 along with 42 other suspects

Zubair was implicated in the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in June 2009; a deadly attack on police officials deployed outside Lal Masjid in July 2008; and an attack near Pirwadhai Mor Rawalpindi in March 2009.

However, Zubair was acquitted in all these cases by February 2012. At this stage his luck ran out. He was then accused of abetting Dr Shakeel Afridi.

Afridi was accused of spying on Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden (OBL) for the Americans.

According to Mr Swati, an advocate of the Supreme Court, Zubair was detained in Rawalpindi Central Jail, Adiala, in 2012 after he was acquitted from the first three terrorist cases and implicated in cases that were to be tried by the political agent of Khyber.

Swati said that the Superintendent Adiala Jail on May 7, 2012 wrote a letter to the Assistant Political Agent Jamrud Sub-Division for Zubair’s trial under section 7, 8, 9 of the Control of Narcotics Substances Act (CNSA).

Zubair was then taken to Khyber.

It is noteworthy that this is around the same time that Shakil Afridi was being tried by the same political agent for treason for helping the US trace OBL by carrying out a ‘fake’ vaccination campaign.

The lawyer claimed that CNSA was not applicable in the Fata.

His objection made it evident that the government had no case against Zubair, at which point the political agent pulled another rabbit out of the hat and claimed that Zubair was accused of abetting Dr Afridi.

“They provided no documents or charge sheet against Zubair, despite my repeated requests,” said the lawyer.

“During the arguments I pointed out that OBL was a wanted terrorist and even the Pakistan government has fixed ‘head money’ for him and hence if someone helped trace him, he could not be termed a criminal,” said Mr Swati.

He claimed that the LEAs officials assured him that Zubair would be released on bail. And he was – even though no FIR was registered for either of the two crimes he was accused of.

The Assistant Political Agent in a letter dated May 11, 2012 stated, “The accused Zubair has applied for his release on bail through Laiq Khan Swati, advocate Supreme Court. The bail petition has been allowed. The accused Mohammad Zubair shall furnish surety bonds in the sum of Rs500,000 with two sureties in the like amount.”

A copy of the letter was also forwarded to the District and Sessions Judge Rawalpindi and Superintendent Central Jail Rawalpindi.

Zubair was allowed to return home.

As a result, for the past two years Zubair has been living in Rawalpindi, not sure of when the sword may fall – though of course he has not once been asked to appear in front of anyone for the charges he continues to ‘face’.

Senior lawyer and former president Islamabad High Court Bar Association Syed Nayyab Hassan Gardezi said that the acquittal of Zubair from these cases was due to our flawed criminal justice system.

He said that the accused in such cases benefit from poor investigation and incompetent prosecutors.

Zubair was arrested on June 2009 on charges of masterminding the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore earlier that year. Investigators alleged that he was a member of TTP Punjab unit which was involved in the attack.

Six Sri Lankan players, including the team captain Mahela Jayawaredene were injured in the attack. Six policemen were killed in the brazen attack.

He was also nominated in a case registered with the Police Station Westridge, Rawalpindi.

The FIR named those accused of carrying out a suicide attack near Pirwadhai Mor.

Six people were killed and 11 others injured after a Suzuki pick-up van was targeted by a teenage suicide bomber near Pirwadhai Mor on Peshawar Road in Rawalpindi on March 15, 2009, a day before the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz led a long march to Islamabad for the restoration of Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry as Chief Justice of Pakistan.

Another case in which Zubair was a co-accused but was acquitted was July 6, 2008 Melody Market suicide attack.

The attack claimed the lives of 15 policemen and two other people after the culmination of the “Lal Masjid Shuhada (martyrs) Conference” held to observe the first anniversary of the July 2007 military operation against the mosque and seminary.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2014