PESHAWAR: An appellate court has acquitted a suspected member of a proscribed militant outfit by setting aside his conviction by an assistant political agent on the charges of waging war against the state and attacking Nato containers bound for Afghanistan.

Exercising appellate powers under the Fata Interim Governance Regulation (FIGR), 2018, the additional commissioner accepted an appeal filed by the appellant Nama Jan, a resident of Bara, Khyber tribal district.

Under the FIGR, the court of a designated commissioner or additional commissioner is the second judicial forum hearing appeals originated out of the judgments of the political agents (now deputy commissioners) or assistant political agents (now assistant deputy commissioners).

Court also sets aside his conviction for attacking security personnel

The man was convicted by an assistant political agent in his capacity as the additional district magistrate had convicted the appellant on Aug 17, 2018, and sentenced him to seven years rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs200,000.

He was charged under Pakistan Penal Code’s Section 121 (waging war against the state) and 121-A (punishment for waging war) and Section 11 of the erstwhile Frontier Crimes Regulation.

Shabbir Hussain Gigyani, lawyer for the appellant, said his client was innocent and was falsely implicated in the case.

He said the appellant was taken into custody by the security forces on Oct 9, 2015, and after keeping him in illegal detention for over two years, he was handed over to the administration of Khyber Agency (now Khyber tribal district).

The lawyer said the only evidence against his client was a report of the joint investigation team, which claimed that the appellant belonged to a proscribed militant organisation and was involved in attacks against Nato conveys carrying goods to Afghanistan and waging of war against the state by attacking personnel of law-enforcement agencies.

He said the JIT report could be considered a charge sheet against the appellant and not evidence.

The lawyer said for convicting the appellant, the prosecution had to produce incontrovertible evidence, which was not available in the case.

He said it was on record that the appellant was kept in illegal confinement for over two years.

The lawyer said it had become a common practice that the suspects were held in illegal custody for years before being handed over to the administration of former tribal areas and convicted in cases without evidence.

Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2018

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