Over 1,000 terror accused on the loose in Punjab

Police admit in court National Action Plan against terrorism severely hampered

LAHORE: Punjab police have admitted before the Lahore High Court that more than 1,000 proclaimed offenders booked in terror cases are at large in the province.

This was revealed in a report submitted on Friday by the police and Counter-Terrorism Department before LHC’s Justice Abdul Sami Khan, the administrative judge of anti-terrorism courts.

While 57 proclaimed offenders were arrested during the last month, another 41 escaped because of the negligence of the officials concerned. Hundreds of proclaimed offenders, 1,002 to be exact, have yet to be taken into custody, the report states.

The report admitted the National Action Plan against terrorism had been severely hampered by the poor performance of police and Counter-Terrorism Department.

According to the report, 233 proclaimed offenders are on the run in Gujranwala, 187 in Lahore, 176 in Dera Ghazi Khan, 119 in Rawalpindi, 116 in Sheikhupura, 97 in Faisalabad, 46 in Bahawalpur, 16 in Multan, eight in Sargodha while six proclaimed offenders are at large in the Sahiwal region.

Justice Sami directed the police to arrest the proclaimed offenders as soon as possible and submit charge-sheets against those already in the custody of the law enforcers.

Suspect acquitted

An ATC, meanwhile, acquitted a suspect allegedly associated with a banned organisation in a case related to distribution of hate literature against the ruling party as well as Pakistan Army. Abdul Jabbar was exonerated of all charges after the prosecution failed to establish his links with Hizbut Tehrir.

The prosecution claimed that Liaquatabad police arrested a terrorist of the banned organisation red-handed while delivering hateful speeches and distributing material amongst the people.

The suspect’s counsel, Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry, contended the accused had nothing to do with this case and was implicated in a fake case merely to boast about police efficiency.

The lawyer submitted such cases were to be interrogated by joint investigation teams (JITs), but this particular case was investigated by an individual, the investigation officer named Inspector Azeem.

He contended the police arrested an innocent man and confiscated the hate material but made no efforts to arrest the author of the material, publishers or the other relevant people. No one from the people to which the literature was distributed was involved in investigation.

The advocate said the police did not produce a single evidence to make it the part of record that could establish whether or not Hizbut Tehrir was a banned organisation.

Opposing the arguments, the prosecution argued the man was caught red-handed and substantial evidence was available on record to establish the case against him.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 26^th, 2016.