OKARA: A division bench of the Lahore High Court on Tuesday acquitted Anjuman-i-Mazareen Punjab (AMP) former general secretary Mehr Abdul Sattar and activist Abdul Ghafoor of terrorism and other charges.

The bench accepted their appeal and acquitted them in case FIR no 731/2015 registered by Saddar Okara police under section 7 ATA and 324 of the PPC.

They were accused of blocking road and injuring policemen.

In this case, the Saddar police had submitted challan to the Sahiwal anti-terrorism court presided over by Malik Shabbir Hussain Awan. The court had declared both guilty and awarded them 10-year sentence each along with Rs200,000 fine on May 26, 2018. Later, both the convicts filed an appeal with the Lahore High Court.

On Tuesday, appellants counsel Ali Zahid Bokhari and Abida Parveen presented arguments before the bench comprising Justice Syed Muhammad Shahbaz Rizvi and Justice Asjad Javid Ghoral.

The bench acquitted appellants of the charges framed under Section 7 of the ATA and 324 of the PPC.

It merits mentioning that Mehr Abdul Sattar and Abdul Ghafoor had already been acquitted in 12 cases by a Sahiwal lower court. Advocate Noor Nabi, brother-in-law of Mehr Abdul Sattar, had been acquitted on May 26, 2018.

Currently, three cases against Mehr Abdul Sattar are pending in the court of magistrate at Okara. In these cases, the bail pleas of Mehr Abdul Sattar have been admitted for hearing.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2020