RAWALPINDI: The Lahore High Court (LHC)’s Rawalpindi bench on Monday annulled the death sentences of four persons in a terrorist attack case and acquitted them of the charges citing lack of evidence.

The prosecution, however, said the verdict would be challenged in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

As many as 11 people were killed in the terrorist attack on Imambargah Shah-i-Najaf in the Khyaban-i-Sir Syed locality of Rawalpindi in February 2002.

An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on December 9, 2004 handed down the death sentence and imposed Rs500,000 each on Fazal Hameed, Habibullah, Tahir Mehmood and Hafiz Naseer Ahmed for abetting the crime.

However, the division bench, comprising Justice Ibadur Rehman Lodhi and Justice Qazi Mohammad Amin, after hearing the appeals filed by the convicts also revoked the fine.

LHC Rawalpindi bench also revokes fine imposed on terror convicts citing lack of evidence

Malik Mohammad Rafique, the defence counsel, argued before the court that the ATC had convicted his clients on the basis of ‘weak evidence’. Pointing out flaws in the prosecution evidence, Advocate Rafique said the identification parade of the suspects was not conducted in accordance with the law. He contended that the prosecution witnesses did not know the accused persons but during the identification parade they not only claimed to have identified them but also linked them to the commissioning of the crime.

He said the police had arrested 10 suspects and the ATC during the course of the trial acquitted five of them — Mubarak Hussain, Mujibur Rehman, Faraz Ahmed, Mohammad Sohail and Mohammad Abdullah – against whom the same evidence was produced. According to him, the case of the convicts was not different from that of the acquitted ones. He requested the court to annual the death sentence awarded to his clients.

However, a deputy prosecutor general opposed the request and claimed that the prosecution had produced sufficient evidence against the suspects on the basis of which the ATC convicted them.

It may be mentioned that in 2004 the ATC declared 12 people - Qari Gul Mohammad, Aziz Ahmed alias Usman Chota, Karimullah, Qari Nazakat, Saifur Rehman, Abdul Wahab, Rashid Satti, Jamshaid, Mohammad Ajmal, Rashidullah, Sajjad and Akram Lahori – as the proclaimed offenders in the case.

A prosecutor privy to the case told Dawn that it was the ‘flawed investigation’ which resulted in the acquittal of the suspects. He said the investigators were responsible for collecting evidence and arranging witnesses while the job of the prosecution was to produce the evidence before the court.

He said the evidence and the witnesses in the case were not sufficient owing to which the prosecution failed to prove the case.

He, however, said the prosecution department had applied for the written order of the LHC division bench. After examining the order, an appeal against the acquittal would be filed with the Supreme Court.

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2015

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