SAHIWAL, Oct 9: The Anti-terrorism special court No2, Multan, on Tuesday ordered the acquittal of five accused in the Chichawatni bomb blast case.

The court acquitted Pirjee Abdul Jaleel, Qari Aneesur Rehman, Zahid Butt, Mehr Asif and Baba Siddiq, while two other accused, Qari Muhammad Ashraf and Tahir Gujjar, are still at large and have been declared proclaimed offenders.

According to prosecution, on Feb 24 this year a ceremony of Quran Khwani was to be held for the late police inspector, Rana Saeed Ahmed, at Chichawatni.

Three members of a banned sectarian organisation, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, — Maqsood Teddi, Hafiz Adeel and Akhtar Dogar — were allegedly carrying an explosive device on their bicycle to sabotage the ceremony which accidentally went off, killing all the carriers on the spot.

Police concerned registered the case under section 302 of the PPC, Anti Terrorism Act and Explosive Act, arresting 93 students of Madressaha Azizul Uloom, along with its in charge Pirjee Abdul Jaleel.

The police also arrested Zahid Butt, Qari Aneesur Rehman, Mehr Asif and Baba Siddiq for having alleged links with the banned organisation, detaining them in Central Jail, Sahiwal.

The police suspected that the accused wanted to kill Sahiwal DPO Javed Hassan Shah who they believed was behind the killing of Riaz Basra, the then head of the banned outfit. The DPO was expected to attend the Quran khwani at Chichawatni.

ATC Judge Amir Muhammad Khan, in his verdict, observed that the police on suspicion arrested all the above five accused and got their confessional statements under duress. The police, the judge observed, failed to provide any concrete evidence in the case.

The case had been pleaded by Muhammad Noor Khan Hanse advocate.

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