PESHAWAR: An anti-terrorism court on Saturday acquitted an Afghan national on the charge of possessing a huge quantity of explosive material and improvised explosive devices.

Judge Tariq Yousafzai pronounced that the prosecution didn’t prove its case against the accused, Khanzala, while that the evidence on record, too, didn’t connect him with the commission of the offence.

The CTD had claimed that it had arrested the accused on May 20, 2017, after seizing 200kg of explosive material, 103 IEDs and other bomb-making items during a raid on his house in Shamshato area of Peshawar.

It said it had raided the premises on a tip-off and booked the accused under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act and Section 5 of the Explosive Substance Act.

Shabbir Hussain Gigyani, lawyer for the accused, said no evidence was brought on record by the prosecution to prove that the premises in question belonged to his client.

He said the defence evidence had proved that the accused lived in another house of the area.

The lawyer said the documents submitted by the defence lawyer proved that the accused was an Afghan student, who had came to Pakistan for further education on the seats reserved in the local educational institutions for his countrymen.

He said the accused was held on a road and was falsely implicated in the case.

The lawyer said the prosecution didn’t produce any evidence proving that the accused belonged to a banned outfit and intended to use explosives for terrorism.

He said the entire case of the prosecution was faulty as it didn’t investigate how such a large quantity of explosives reached the said premises and whom they were to be delivered.

The lawyer said the statements recorded by the prosecution witnesses about the arrest of the accused were also contradictory.

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2018