PESHAWAR: An anti-terrorism court has granted bail to two men arrested by the counter terrorism department on the charge of financing terrorist organisations through benami bank accounts.

Judge Mahmoodul Hassan accepted the bail petition of the suspects, including Shah Fahad and Younas, on the condition of furnishing two surety bonds valuing Rs300,000 each.

The CTD alleged that both suspects did a hundi business in the Sarafa Bazaar and they had opened bank accounts in the name of other people with the connivance of the relevant bank manager, Malik Imran.

It added that the bank manager confessed after arrest to the opening of those bank accounts for the two suspects.

The CTD said the suspects had illegally transferred huge amounts of money through those bank accounts and were also involved in terror financing.

They are accused of funding terrorist outfits through benami bank accounts

They were charged under Section 11-N of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

Shabbir Hussain Gigyani, lawyer for the petitioners, claimed that his clients, who had a currency business in the Sarafa Bazaar, were falsely implicated in the case.

He also insisted that the case did not fall under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

The lawyer said that the CTD had charged his clients under Section 11-N of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, which dealt with offences related to the fundraising and money laundering for terrorists.

He said in the case, the prosecution failed to produce even single evidence to show that his clients had provided funds to any terrorist or terrorist group.

The lawyer said the investigating agency also hadn’t produced any link between the petitioners and any terrorist outfit.

He wondered how the case could be registered under the ATA when petitioners and terrorists weren’t linked. The lawyer said the CTD couldn’t produce any documentary evidence to connect his clients to the commission of the offence.

ACQUITTED: A model court in Charsadda acquitted a man of murder.

Adnan Khan, a resident of Tarnab area, was charged with killing his neighbour, Hazrat Gul, after an altercation in Umerzai area three years ago.

He was charged under Pakistan Penal Code sections 302 and 324.

Judge Arbab Suhail Hamid pronounced after the trial’s completion that the prosecution had failed to prove the charge against the accused.

The complaint in the case, the deceased’s brother, had claimed that he was a witness to the murder.

He said the accused had fired at his brother after they had heated exchanges on July 4, 2016, and that the firing led to the latter’s death. The defence counsel said witnesses had recorded conflicting statements.

He said the presence of witnesses at the place of murder wasn’t proved by the prosecution.

The defence lawyer said the firing victim had lied on the ground for around 25 minutes.

He wondered if the complainant was there, why he didn’t shift his brother to a hospital.

The defence counsel claimed that the complainant was not a witness to the firing and that his client was falsely implicated in the case.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2019