KARACHI: An antiterrorism court on Tuesday exonerated four men charged with facilitating the 2014 Karachi airport attack.

The four men — Asif Zaheer, Sarmad Siddiqui, Abdur Rashid Siddiqui and Nadeem alias Burger — were exonerated by the ATC-IV judge, who conducted the trial, which took five years to conclude, in the judicial complex inside the central prison.

The judge pronounced his verdict reserved after recording evidence and final arguments from both sides.

The judge noted that the prosecution failed to prove the allegations levelled against the accused persons.

Accused Siddiqui and Nadeem appeared in court on bail while Zaheer and Rashid Siddiqui were produced from prison.

27 people were killed when 10 armed militants attacked the airport on June 8, 2014

The judge ordered the prison authorities to release them forthwith if their custody was not required in any other case.

Defence counsel Imtiaz Ali told Dawn that the court acquitted his clients by extending them the “benefit of doubt”.

The counsel submitted during the trial that the army had arrested 11 actual accused persons, who were later punished by a military court following a trial. He contended that his clients were falsely implicated in the present case and pleaded to the court to acquit them of the frivolous charges.

According to the prosecution, a total of 98 witnesses were named in the charge sheet. However, the prosecution produced only 39 witnesses and gave up the rest of them.

The state prosecutor submitted that on the night of June 8, 2014, around 10 terrorists carrying arms and explosives had attacked the Karachi airport, killing 27 people including security personnel and staffers. The terrorists were gunned down by security agencies in the overnight operation, the prosecutor added.

The responsibility of the attack was claimed by the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan as a result of which the army immediately launched a major crackdown called Operation Zarb-i-Azb against the terrorist outfit in North Waziristan, which was its stronghold.

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) had arrested the four accused for allegedly providing logistics, weapons and financial support to the attackers. Another suspect, Master Essa, was released from the case in the initial stage.

Meanwhile, the court issued perpetual warrants of arrest against six absconding suspects, including former TTP spokesperson Shahidullah Shahid, Malik Mumtaz Awan, Asim Sharif, Akhtar alias Plumber, Iqbal alias Thekedar and Abdullah Baloch.

A case was registered under Sections 302 (murder), 324 (attempted murder), 353 (deterring public servant from duty with criminal force), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 435 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to cause damage to amount of one hundred rupees or (in case of agricultural produce) ten rupees), 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house, etc), 109 (abetment) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Explosives Substances Act read with Section 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 at the Airport police station.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2020