ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) of Rawalpindi on Wednesday acquitted two alleged members of a banned outfit in an explosives recovery case.

The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of Rawalpindi arrested the accused, Maulana Abdul Majid and Mohammad Rizwan in May last year and allegedly recovered 0.66kg explosive material along with detonators from their custody.

Maulana Abdul Majid was the khateeb at the main Jamia Masjid in Swan Garden, which is a private housing society on the Islamabad Expressway, and Rizwan was the naib khateeb.

The CTD also claimed to have recovered Rs300,000 from the custody of the accused which the FIR claimed were raised to fund jihad. According to the prosecution, both the accused belong to a banned outfit, Jamatul Furqan which was proscribed in 2003.

CTD claimed Maulana Majid was the general secretary and Rizwan was the finance secretary at the banned outfit and that both were fundraisers of Jamatul Furqan as well. The prosecution produced nine witnesses to prove its case against the accused persons.

Defence counsel Maulana Abdul Wajih, on the other hand, alleged that the CTD registered a false case against his clients. He said that the accused were notable clerics of the area, have a good track record and were never involved in any criminal activities in the past.

He pointed out that the CTD picked them up from the mosque in Swan Garden on May 16 but has shown that they were arrested May 27 near Gulzar-i-Quaid and denied the recovery of explosives from the possession of the accused persons. He said Rs300,000 were donations from residents of nearby areas for the mosque.

ATC Judge Asif Majeed Awan concluding the trial proceedings and acquitted both the accused saying that the prosecution has failed to produce sufficient evidence to link the suspect with the charges.

Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2017