PESHAWAR, Dec 4: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday acquitted an appellant, Kamal Hussain, convicted by a trial court in the Wazirbagh incident in which the son of the former federal minister, Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, and two others were killed.
A two-member bench, comprising Justice Ijaz Afzal and Justice Fazalur Rehman, also dismissed the state’s appeal filed against the acquittal of former provincial minister Syed Qammar Abbas, his nephew, Asad Kamal, and his body guard, Noor Muhammad, in the same case.
The appellant, Kamal Hussain, was convicted by an additional district and sessions judge on May 17, 1999, and was sentenced to serve a life sentence besides paying a fine amounting to Rs50,000. In the same judgment, the other three accused were acquitted by the trial court.
Shabir Ahmad Bilour, son of Ghulam Bilour, SHO Amanullah and an engineer of Communication and Works department, Mohammad Khan, were killed on April 3, 1997, at a polling station for women at Wazirbagh during by-elections in NA-1 (Peshawar).
PPP’s leader Syed Qammar Abbas, who was opponent candidate of Haji Ghulam Bilour, his nephew and two gunmen were charged for those murders.
The lawyer, who appeared on behalf of Qammar Abbas and other accused, contended that the evidence of two of the witnesses contradicted the deceased’s medical examination reports.
He argued that both the witnesses, Iftikhar Matta and Faiz Rasool, had not participated in the preparation of the crime scene plan rendering their presence on the spot doubtful.
He also argued that the crime scene plan supported the defence’s version and it was clear that gunfire originated from outside the polling station, whereas defendants and deceased were inside the premises.
Prosecution lawyers contended that witnesses were positive about seeing Qammar Abbas and other defendants firing at the deceased, adding that Qammar Abbas’ gunman, Kamal Hussain, had admitted in his statement made under Section 342 of the Criminal Procedure Code that they were present on the spot and an altercation had occurred between the deceased, Shabir Bilour, and Qammar Abbas.