A local court on Saturday acquitted Balochistan MPA Majeed Khan Achakzai in a vehicle tampering case related to the traffic incident that resulted in the death of a traffic sergeant in Quetta.
Though the MPA was acquitted in this particular case, the case concerning the death of the traffic sergeant is ongoing in an Anti-Terrorism Court as it was registered under Section 322 (punishment for murder) of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
"We have also challenged the terrorism charge in a higher court because how can a traffic accident be considered a terrorist act," his counsel said on Saturday.
In June this year, traffic police official Haji Attaullah had been killed after being run over by a vehicle that allegedly belonged to Achakzai. The legislator's vehicle was speeding and rammed into the traffic sergeant who was on duty at GPO Chowk, police had said.
CCTV footage of the incident was shared widely on social media and sparked a campaign demanding the arrest of the legislator, after which police had apprehended Achakzai, who belongs to the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, from his residence in the Satellite Town area of Quetta.
He was produced in front of a judicial magistrate a week after the incident, after which he was remanded to police custody.
Prior to his remand, however, Achakzai had confessed to his involvement in the accident and claimed to have agreed to compensate the family members of the slain traffic policeman. Surprisingly, the Civil Lines Police Station had still lodged a First Information Report against 'unknown individuals'.
Correction: The headline and introduction of the story incorrectly stated that Majeed Achakzai had been acquitted in the hit-and-run killing of the traffic constable. The acquittal was, in fact, in a case pertaining to alleged vehicle tampering by Achakzai after the hit-and-run incident. The traffic constable killing case is still being tried in an Anti-Terrorism Court. The error is regretted.
