PESHAWAR: An anti-terrorism court has acquitted 24 people on the charge of financing a banned terrorist outfit through fundraising in Bahrain.

The court ruled that the counter-terrorism department had failed to prove its case against the accused, who belonged to North and South Waziristan tribal districts, while the evidence available on record didn’t connect them with the commission of the offence.

The court accepted an application filed by the accused under Section 265-K of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which empowers the trial court to acquit an accused at any stage of the trial when there is no possibility of his conviction on basis of the available record.

The acquitted included Sultan Khan, Gul Nawaz, Rehmanullah, Ayodin, Noor Aslam, Fakhar Zaman, Said Badshah, Muhammadullah, Zarwali Khan, Din Sahib, Shahpur Rehman and others.

The CTD had registered an FIR on Jul 3, 2019, under section 11-N of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

It had charged the accused, who had mostly lived in Bahrain, of funding the banned terrorist outfit, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

The CTD had alleged that it had received a letter from an intelligence agency wherein it was informed that several members of TTP, who mostly belonged to Wazir tribe of North and South Waziristan districts and worked in Bahrain, were involved in fundraising for TTP.

Defence counsel Wajid Aziz Mehsud and Yousaf Khan said their clients mostly working as labourers in Bahrain were deported on flimsy charges.

They alleged that on their return, the petitioners were illegally detained for months.

Lawyer Wajid said his clients were were released when they were found innocent.

He added that the CTD had registered the said FIR against them over terror financing.

The lawyer said the CTD had failed to prove any link between his clients and the militant outfit.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2020