LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Monday sentenced a man to one-year jail term on two counts on the charge of ‘facilitating’ a 2017 bomb blast in Sabzi Mandi (vegetable market) at Badami Bagh, Lahore.

According to the prosecution, suspect Saifur Rehman had sold a truck with bogus registration documents to the terrorists involved in the blast, which claimed the lives of 16 people.

The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) had registered the case and arrested the suspect.

The defence counsel argued that the suspect had sold the truck, which was later used in the bomb blast by the terrorists.

He said the suspect had no link to the blast or its perpetrators, adding the driver of the truck was still at large as the police failed to arrest him.

He asked the court to acquit the suspect of the charges.

Presiding Judge Ijaz Ahmad Buttar exonerated the suspect of the charge of facilitation, but convicted him for selling the truck through forged documents.

The judge sentenced the suspect to one-year jail term each under sections 468 and 471 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). Both sections deal with the offences of forgery and cheating.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2022