The arrested men confessed during interrogation that they had planned a suicide attack on the Army House in Rawalpindi to kill Pervez Musharraf. -File Photo

ATC-II Special Judge Raja Ikhlaq Hussain said in his verdict the convicts, Intikhab Ahmed Abbasi of Islamabad, Mohammad Kabir of Abbotabad, Abid Khan of Attock, Mohammad Ishaq of Peshawar, Qamar Zaman of Dera Ismail Khan and Zafar Ali of Kohat, had been sentenced for hatching a criminal conspiracy.

The court acquitted seven other men, Mohammad Touqir, Mohammad Sajjad, Mohammad Zameer, Rashid Mehmood, Farhan Mehmood, Abdul Sattar and Noor Mohammad, for lack of evidence. The decision was announced in Adiala Jail where the 13 men had been tried.

The six convicts were also found guilty of accumulating over 900kg of explosive material for an attack to kill Pervez Musharraf, then president of Pakistan, using bogus registration numbers and tempering with the chassis number of three vehicles seized from them.

Special prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali told Dawn that the convicts had been arrested on June 6, 2008, from Dhoke Kala Khan locality of Rawalpindi.

Federal Investigation Agency found the explosives concealed in 15 pressure cookers and large drums, six canisters of diesel, five bottles containing different kinds of splinters and three detonators.

Advocate Zulfiqar Ali said the men confessed during interrogation that they had planned a suicide attack on the Army House in Rawalpindi to kill Pervez Musharraf.