Tragedy averted: Terrorism charges against pilot dropped

The counsel said the pilot was innocent and the ATA charges were not justified in light of statements by witnesses


APP January 20, 2016

LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Wednesday referred a Shaheen Air pilot’s case to a district and sessions judge after removing Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) sections from it. ATC Judge Haroon Latif passed the order on an application filed by the pilot, Asmat Mehmood. The petitioner’s counsel told the court that the aircraft’s crash landing was an accident but the police had included sections of the ATA in the FIR against his client. The counsel said the pilot was innocent and the ATA charges were not justified in light of statements by witnesses. He requested the court to remove sections of the ATA. Prosecution said the pilot had endangered lives of 120 people on board. It said his actions could have caused a huge tragedy. After hearing the arguments, the judge referred the case to a sessions court. Sarwar Road police had registered a case against the pilot under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act on CAA’s complaint.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 21st, 2016.

COMMENTS

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ