LAHORE: Punjab has transferred six of the selected seven terrorism cases to the military courts for trial after a formal approval by the federal government, reliable sources informed Dawn on Thursday.

The provincial government had selected the seven cases for military courts and sent them to the interior ministry for approval by the end of February. Prominent among them is the Sri Lanka cricket team attack case.

Know more: Military courts announce death sentences of six convicts

The government had initially underlined 46 or so terrorism cases pending decision in the provincial anti-terrorism courts (ATCs) for trial in the military courts last month. But except for the seven almost all were decided by the ATCs or discarded by the provincial apex committee headed by the chief minister.

According to sources, files of the six out of the seven selected cases had been sent to the military courts for trial. The remaining case was also being transferred.

The cases included the March 3, 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka cricket team near Lahore’s Qadhafi Stadium in which seven policemen, including a traffic warden, were killed and some Sri Lankan cricketers were injured.

There are eight accused and except for three all, including Malik Ishaq, are on bail. Another major accused Dr Usman has already been hanged to death in the 2009 GHQ attack case. Those behind the bars include Zubair alias Naik, Abdul Wahab and Adnan Sajjad.

The other cases include the January 17, 2014 explosion in the Khushal Khan Khattak train at Kotla Hassan Shah, Umer Kot, Rajanpur, murder of Soneri Bank manager Syed Waqar Hussain in Lahore on Feb 11, 2013, the March 10, 2014 attack on television anchor Raza Rumi in Lahore, the Oct 19, 2012 Lahore murder of Syed Shakir Ali Rizvi, the Aug 28, 2013 murder of Advocate Syed Arshad in Lahore’s Misri Shah, and the killing of 16 people as a result of a bomb blast during a procession taken out to mark the Chehlum of Hazrat Imam Hussain (AS) in Bahawalpur on Jan 15, 2012.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2015

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