RAWALPINDI:
A trial court on Tuesday dismissed the acquittal plea of three men for their alleged links with Faisal Shahzad, a man detained in the US for an attempted terrorist attack in New York’s Times Square last year.
Special Judge of an anti-terrorism court (ATC) Malik Muhammad Akram Awan dismissed the plea of Akhtar, Muhammad Shoaib Mughal and Muhammad Shahid Hussain. Defence counsel Basharatullah Khan contended that his clients were picked up by intelligence agencies in May last year from their homes. Their relatives had registered FIRs against their abduction.
He said that the Ministry of Interior had set up an inquiry commission headed by three retired judges to trace missing persons and they had reported on the alleged abduction of the three men. The prosecution’s lawyer Tayyab Shah said the inquiry report could not be used for their acquittal. “The defence counsel should produce a document as evidence before the court of any report on the abduction of the three men.”
The court observed that they would be given a chance to defend themselves during their trial and will take up the case on April 15 to record the statements of prosecution witnesses.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 6th, 2011.
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