PESHAWAR: Setting aside the conviction of a suspected militant by an anti-terrorism court, the Peshawar High Court acquitted him on the charge of facilitating three would-be suicide bombers, who were killed in an explosion more than three years ago.

A bench consisting of Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Mohammad Nasir Mehfooz accepted an appeal of the convict, Fazlur Rehman of Yakaghund area in Mohmand tribal district, ruling that the prosecution had failed to prove the charge against him.

The appellant was convicted by the anti-terrorism court on June 13, 2019, and was sentenced to 28 years imprisonment.

He was arrested by the counter-terrorism department on May 20, 2016, in connection with the killing of three alleged would-be suicide bombers in an explosion in Mathra area.

The CTD claimed that the alleged bombers were on a terrorist mission and they’re killed after the suicide vest of one of them exploded.

The department also insisted that a motorcycle used by the bombers was traced to the appellant, whose disclosure led to the seizure of 50kgs explosives, detonators and safety fuses during a raid on a house on June 21, 2016.

The appellant had also recorded a confessional statement regarding the facilitation of the killed bombers and recovery of explosives.

Shabbir Hussain Gigyani, lawyer for the appellant, said his client was convicted for facilitating killed bombers merely on the basis of a confessional statement but there were ‘glaring irregularities’ in the recording of that statement by the magistrate.

He said the confession was under coercion and the magistrate didn’t fulfil the mandatory conditions for it.

The lawyer said under the law, a magistrate had to send an accused to prison after recording the statement but in the case, the appellant instead of prison was taken away by the CTD officials and was implicated in an explosives case.

He said the time shown by the prosecution for the recovery of explosives was the same when a senior police officer addressed a news conference about the seizure.

Mr Gigyani wondered how the police officer could address the media at the moment the explosives were seized.

He said there were several contradictions in the statements of the prosecution witnesses.

The lawyer also said the report of the bomb disposal unit also contradicted the prosecution’s version of the case.

Meanwhile, additional district and sessions judge Azeemullah Mashwani has acquitted a man arrested on the charge of smuggling narcotics in a truck.

The judge ruled that the evidence on record didn’t connect suspect Aslam Khan, a resident of Bannu district, with the commission of the offence.

The accused was arrested on Sept 22, 2017, while an FIR was registered at the Pishtakhara police station under Section 9 of the Control of Narcotics Substance Act.

The police claimed that the accused was trying to smuggle 15kg charas in a truck.

The defence counsel said there were irregularities in the dispatch of samples to the Forensic Science Laboratory for testing as the samples were received in the laboratory five days after they’re handed over to a constable for delivery.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2020