RAWALPINDI, March 31: An anti-terrorism court on Thursday acquitted two persons allegedly involved in planning and perpetrating a suicide attack at the gate of Rescue 15 in Islamabad in June 2009 for want of relevant evidence.

Special Judge ATC-II Raja Ikhlaq Hussain absolved Ghulam Mustafa Tabassum, resident of Islamabad and Shafiq-ur-Rehman, resident of Vehari of the charges of hatching conspiracy to carry out a suicide attack at the office of Rescue 15 located in the area of Margalla police station.

The trial court while announcing the short order on Thursday observed that the prosecution left many aspects of the case unproved creating many doubts therefore, the accused could not be convicted in the case.

The Rescue 15 office in sector G-8 was attacked by a young suicide bomber on June 6, 2009 killing two policemen and the two accused were arrested by Islamabad police in April 2010 for their alleged involvement in the terror incident.

According to the police investigation, one of the accused Ghulam Mustafa was arrested on April 3, 2010 for his suspicious activities and during interrogation he revealed to have planned the suicide attack at the Rescue 15 office. On his revelation, the police arrested Shafiq-ur-Rehman on April 18, 2010.

The investigators further said that two Rescue 15 officials had seen three men prowling around the office two days before the suicide attack. Later, during the identification parade, the police officials recognised Mustafa and Shafiq as being the same who had earlier been seen around the office. Therefore, the investigators figured them out to be the two accomplices of the suicide bomber.

On the other hand, the accused had denied the allegations saying that Mustafa's mother reported to the 1-9 police in August 2009 that her son had been kidnapped by unknown persons.She also moved the Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench for the recovery of her son and the matter was referred to the Supreme Court and it was appended with the missing persons' case, said Advocate Basharat Ullah Khan while talking to Dawn after the decision.

In April last year, then Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad informed the Supreme Court that Mustafa was being interrogated for his alleged involvement in the suicide attack at the Rescue 15 office. On the question from the SC, the IGP said that before his arrest on April 3, 2010 Mustafa was in the custody of intelligence agencies, advocate Khan said.

The lawyer of the accused maintained that the investigation officer had informed the court that they could not establish any connection between the teenage suicide bomber and the two arrested men. The revelation of the investigating officer created further doubts in the case. —Our Reporter