PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday set aside the conviction of three people by an anti-terrorism court in an arms smuggling case and ordered their fresh trial by a regular court.

The development came as a bench comprising Justice Qaisar Rasheed and Justice Asadullah Khan Chamkani partially accepted a joint criminal appeal of Wajid Khan, Atif and Ghulam Mohammad against their conviction.

The bench also ordered the release of the three on bail.

The police had arrested the three in Bhadabher area on April 3, 2014 claiming seizure of 24 rifles, 45 pistols, four Kalashnikovs and 50,000 cartridges from their vehicle.

Orders fresh trial of three convicts by regular court

They insisted the arms seized were being smuggled to Punjab for terrorism.

The arrested men were charged under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act and sections 15 and 17 of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Arms Act 2013.

Mian Abdul Fayyaz, lawyer for the appellants, said his clients were simultaneously charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Arms Act.

He said smuggling of weapons was not a scheduled offence under the ATA and the prosecution had erred in referring the case to an anti-terrorism court.

The lawyer said it was a simple case under the Arms Act, which had to be tried by a magistrate and not by an anti-terrorism court.

He added that his clients had raised the point before the trial court but the judge didn’t accept it.

BAIL GRANTED: An anti-terrorism court on Thursday granted bail to Charssada district general secretary of JUI-F Mufti Gohar Ali Shah and his three associates in a murder case.

The accused face the charge of killing a person and injuring a policeman by firing during the May 30 local body elections.

The Charssada police claimed Mufti Gohar Shah and his three associates, Wajid, Taj Mohammad and Hazrat Gul, were involved in firing at a polling station, which claimed a life and injured a policeman in Sherpao village.

Mohammad Essa Khan, lawyer for applicants, told judge Abdur Rauf Khan that their clients were falsely implicated in the case as the deceased belonged to their party.

He said instead of arresting the real culprits, the police had held innocent people.

Essa Khan said his clients were taken into custody by security forces and remained in illegal detention for 26 days.

He said his clients were later handed over to the police, which falsely implicated them in the murder case.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2015

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