PESHAWAR, Nov 10: Two prisoners from the Christian community languishing in the Central Prison, Peshawar, for almost three years have requested the Peshawar High Court to intervene in their case for an early decision.

The accused — Abid Riaz s/o Munir Samuel and Jamil s/o Gulzar Masih — were arrested in January 2000 in connection with a blast that occurred at a shop here at Bara Gate. Since then they have been behind bars and their case has been adjourned by the concerned additional district and sessions judge for one reason or another.

The two accused claimed that they were innocent and had been falsely implicated in the case. They added that there was no evidence against them and that is why they had filed an application for their acquittal under section 265-K of the Criminal Procedure Code, a section under which an accused could be acquitted before conclusion of his trial if the trial court considered that there was no evidence against him on the record.

In a letter sent from prison, the two accused claimed that they had requested for the early disposal of their case, but of no avail.

The blast had occurred at a herbal shop. The two accused that the shopkeeper had a dispute between them, and they say that is why they had been blamed for the blast.

The owner and one of his relative who were injured in the blast claimed that they had spotted the two accused hurling something inside the shop before the blast occurred.

But the accused claimed that a police inquiry revealed that that the explosion was caused by a gas cylinder.

They stated that their trial commenced in January 2001. Some time, witnesses did not turn up, and on other occasion the proceedings could not be held due to other reasons.

Recently, due to general elections, they claimed, their case was delayed. Both of them claimed that their application filed under 265-K was also pending before the trial court.

The general secretary, Voice of Prisoners, Pastor S. Khalid, told Dawn that both the accused were innocent and were being unjustly kept behind bars.