PESHAWAR, March 30: A two-judge bench of the Peshawar High Court on Thursday set aside acquittal of a former general manager of the Pakistan Steel Mills, Mian Hissamuddin, in an explosives case in absentia.

The bench comprising Justice Shahjehan Khan Yousafzai and Justice Saleem Khan remanded his case back to a qazi court in Malakand for conducting his trial.

The bench accepted an appeal filed by the state against his acquittal in absentia and dismissed a writ petition filed by Mian Hissamuddin for his acquittal.

The bench had reserved its order on March 21 after completion of arguments of both sides and pronounced a short order on Thursday.

Mr Hissamuddin was convicted by an accountability court on May 13, 2005, in a reference of possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income and was sentenced to a five-year rigorous imprisonment. The Peshawar High Court on June 14, 2005, ordered to release him on bail.

He was charged along with five of his relatives in a case registered in Malakand under section 3/4 of the Explosives Substance Act. While he was in custody, the court of izafi zila qazi, Tariq Baluch, conducted trial of the case. The court while acquitting the other accused persons also acquitted Mr Hissamuddin in absentia. A few months back the government filed an appeal against that acquittal.

In the meantime, the trial judge was transferred and the new incumbent declined to issue release orders of Mr Hissamuddin against which he filed an instant petition in the high court.

Advocate Abdul Lateef Afridi appeared for Mr Hissamuddin and contended that the trial court had the powers to acquit a person in absentia if the case of the accused was similar to the other co-accused facing trial.

Mr Afridi had cited various judgments of the superior courts in support of his case and argued that in some of the cases the Supreme Court had declared that an accused could be acquitted in absentia.