PESHAWAR: An anti-terrorism court here on Wednesday dismissed an application filed by chief of the proscribed Tehreek-i- Nifaz-i-Shariah Mohammadi (TNSM) Maulana Sufi Mohammad seeking his acquittal in a case regarding attack on a police station allegedly by activists of his party in Swat around two decades ago.

The judge Abdur Rehman Khan pronounced a short order stating that the application filed by Sufi Mohammad was dismissed.

The court fixed Jan 5 for further proceedings in the trial of the case.

The application was filed by Mr Sufi under section 265-K of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The said section empowers the court to acquit an accused person before conclusion of trial if there is lack of evidence against him.

The case was registered against around 800 persons allegedly belonging to TNSM on June 18, 1995, under sections 120B, 121, 122, 324 and 353 of Pakistan Penal Code. The police alleged that the enraged members of TNSM staged a demonstration near Kabal police station and later on ransacked it. The police alleged that the attackers were instigated by their leaders.

Due to security reasons the judge has been conducting trial inside the Peshawar Central Prison where Maulana Sufi has been imprisoned since his arrest in 2009.

So far Sufi Mohammad and several of his associates have been acquitted by the anti-terrorism court in 10 cases of terrorism and now trials of only two cases, including the present one, are in progress.

The court had reserved its order on the application a few days ago. The applicant’s counsel had contended that in the instant case Sufi Mohammad had not been named in the FIR, and subsequently he was charged in the case. He contended that so far no evidence was recorded against him in the ongoing trial.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2014