PESHAWAR: A single-member Peshawar High Court bench has granted bail to five people charged by the counter-terrorism department with kidnapping a soldier of the Afghan Army for ransom in Swabi around two years ago impersonating as personnel of security forces.

Justice Qalandar Ali Khan directed the five accused to submit two surety bonds valuing Rs100,000 each.

The petitioners included Qayyum Khan and sons Mohammad Khan and Khalid Usman, and their accomplices, Abdul Ghaffar and Habibullah.

The CTD had registered an FIR at its police station in Mardan on Apr 27, 2017.

An Afghan national had claimed that some people wearing army uniform had taken away his son, Haji Gul Bat Khan, a solider of the Afghan Army, from Shamlo Camp in Swabi saying they wanted to examine his documents.

Accused claim CTD didn’t investigate matter properly

He had added that he was told to bring documents of his son’s identification to the nearby police post but when he went there, he didn’t find his son.

The complainant had claimed that the kidnappers had approached him claiming that they were militants, and demanded Rs20 million ransom for his son’s release.

Later, the CTD raided a house and recovered the kidnapped person, who was kept in chains.

Shabbir Hussain Gigyani, lawyer for the accused, said his clients faced trial by an anti-terrorism court.

He said the accused were falsely implicated in the case and that the CTD didn’t investigate the matter properly.

The lawyer also complained that the CTD didn’t conduct identification parade of the accused and that no evidence was collected to connect them to the offence.

BAIL GRANTED: Another single-member bench granted bail to a man convicted by the administration of Khyber tribal district for misappropriating a large quantity of foreign and local currency belonging of his employer.

Justice Lal Jan Khattak directed the accused, Zahir Khan, a resident of Badabher area in Peshawar, to furnish two surety bonds of Rs200,000 each.

The petitioner’s lawyer said his client was arrested by the administration on May 16, 2017, and was charged with misappropriating foreign and local currency to the tune of around Rs7 million, which belonged to his employer.

He said two people, who claimed to be employees of an intelligence agency, took away the money of his employer from his client on May 16, 2017.

The lawyer added that the two asked him to visit the administration’s office, where he was held on the pressure of the two officials on the false charge of taking away their money.

He said the petitioner was convicted by an assistant political agent and was handed down 14 years imprisonment and Rs200,000 fine.

The lawyer said the Frontier Crimes Regulation commissioner set aside his client’s conviction but sent the case back to the court for re-trial on different grounds.

He added that the administration had filed a revision petition against the order of the commissioner with the Fata Tribunal but the tribunal ceased to function after the abolition of the FCR by the government in May last year.

The lawyer said the petitioner couldn’t be detained for an indefinite period.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2019