KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Wednesday acquitted five accused allegedly involved in killing of a union committee (UC) chairman belonging to the Pakistan Peoples Party in Orangi Town.

The UC chairman, Amir Bhashani, was gunned down on April 17, 2025 by armed motorcyclists in a suspected targeted attack near Bismillah Chowk in Orangi Town.

The case was registered under terrorism and murder charges by the Pakistan Bazaar police. Later, the police claimed to have arrested Shehzad, Muhammad Aleem, Muhammad Jameel Zia, Muhammad Hammad Siddiqui and Shahbaz and submitted a charge sheet against them.

After hearing arguments of state prosecutor and defence counsel Abid Zaman and Hyder Farooq Jatoi, the ATC-VI judge acquitted the accused persons for lack of evidence against them.

According to the prosecution, the accused Shahbaz and Shehzad were arrested in an illegal weapon possession case and during interrogation, they had allegedly confessed to their involvement in the murder of the UC chairman.

In their alleged confessional statements to the police, they implicated the other accused, claiming that, at the instigation of their elders, they had conducted recce of the deceased and provided information to their accomplices.

The police had earlier claimed that the murder was planned a week before the killing over “land and financial matters”.

A case was registered at the Pakistan Bazar under Sections 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2026