ISLAMABAD: An Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) in Rawalpindi acquitted Malik Ishaq, head of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LeJ), in three terrorism cases.

Ishaq was facing three charges under separate FIRs registered under sections 9 and 11 of the Anti Terrorism Act (which deal with whipping up sectarian hatred) and section 16 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO).

The three FIRs were registered by Attock, Chakwal and Jhelum police in 2012 and 2013.

However, ATC Judge Rana Masood Akhtar acquitted Ishaq on Thursday without framing charges or formally indicting him as his counsel had filed an acquittal plea.

Prosecutor vows to appeal acquittal, says police oversight weakened their case

His counsel, Rao Abdul Rahim told the court that even though police had registered cases against Ishaq, there was no evidence against him.

He also claimed that there were no eyewitnesses who could testify for the prosecution; therefore it was unlikely that Ishaq would be convicted. Trying an accused under such circumstances would be a futile exercise, he maintained.

Punjab Deputy Prosecutor General Malik Noor Khan, however, argued that the prosecution has a strong case.

He told Dawn that the prosecution pleaded the case to the best of their abilities, but it was up to the court to decide what to do with the accused.

But Mr Khan admitted that there were loopholes in the way the police handled the case, saying that Ishaq was booked under different sections and later, under the ATA, which weakened the prosecution’s case.

He said the prosecution would challenge Ishaq’s acquittal after receiving a copy of the detailed judgement.

“I will write to my superiors and seek permission to file an appeal against the acquittal after examining the ATC judge’s order,” he said.

Ishaq, originally a member of the proscribed Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), broke away to form the LeJ, which was banned by the Pakistan government soon after its inception in the early 1990s.

In February 2014, the United States added Ishaq to its list of most wanted terrorists and put the LeJ on a list of international terrorist organisations.

Ishaq has earlier faced charges of killing more than 100 people, most of them Shia, and was also accused of involvement in the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore on March 2009.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2014