Afterthought: Released earlier, the court wants them back

Arrest warrants for three men who were absolved of terror charges in 2009.

RAWALPINDI:

A court Wednesday issued arrest warrants for three men who were acquitted two years ago in a terrorism case. The suspects did not appear in the court after the prosecution challenged their acquittal.

Justice Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi of the Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Khurram Ishtiaq, a resident of Rawalpindi, Shamim Alam, a resident of South Waziristan, and Ghulam Mustafa, a resident of Kahuta, as they had not been appearing in the court after their acquittal was challenged in July 2009.

Special Public Prosecutor Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) filed an appeal against the May 19, 2009 decision of a magistrate in which the court acquitted the men from the charges of planning to carryout suicide attacks on Rawalpindi district courts and the adjacent police offices. The prosecutor maintained that the trial court ignored certain evidences while absolving the accused men.

The lawyers defending the three men could not satisfy Justice Naqvi when he inquired about their whereabouts and the reason for their absence from the court.

The men were arrested by the crime circle of FIA on August 24, 2008 from Misrial in the cantonment. The investigators had claimed to recover two suicide vests, each lined with 20kg explosives, 20 kg ball bearings and 116 detonators and other explosive materials from the accused, “who were ready to strike in the city”. The prosecution has pleaded before the high court that an anti-terrorism court dropped the terror charges against the three men saying no terror incident had taken place and the proceedings against the accused for carrying explosives could be tried at the court of magistrate.

The prosecution maintained that the magistrate ignored some solid evidence — for instance they were carrying a huge quantity of explosives — against the suspects when acquitting them.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 3^rd, 2011.