ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday ordered the removal of Lal Masjid khadim Manzoor Hussain from the Fourth Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA).

Under the Fourth Schedule, it is mandatory for a suspected terrorist to register their attendance with the police on a regular basis.

Accepting a petition of Mr Hussain, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the IHC also ordered unfreezing of his bank accounts and restoration of his computerised national identity card (CNIC).

The Punjab Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) had submitted a report to the district coordination officer of Attock, accusing Mr Hussain of meeting members of the banned Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat (ASWJ), formerly Sipah-i-Sahaba, at his residence in Attock. The suspect was placed on the Fourth Schedule by the Punjab home department in February 2016.

The high court had summoned officials of the home department and the CTD to present evidence in the case.

An officer of the district administration informed the court that they had added the name of the suspect to the list on the recommendations of the CTD. The officer, however, could not satisfy the court when asked if Mr Hussain had been in contact with any high-profile terror suspect.

During the hearing, Justice Siddiqui remarked that law enforcement agencies never charged drug traffickers, narcotics dealers and persons running prostitution dens but placed religious clerics and people serving in different capacities in mosques on the Fourth Schedule.

Last year, the fourth schedulers complained that their CNICs and bank accounts had been blocked. The interior ministry, however, denied the blockage of any national identity cards.

Mr Hussain had, however, sought the restoration of his CNIC in his petition filed with the IHC.

Published in Dawn January 17th, 2017