Men held on terrorism charges set free

IHC had set aside their detention orders on Tuesday.

RAWALPINDI:

Seven men detained in Adiala jail were released on Friday, after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) set aside their detention orders.

Their detention orders were issued by the Islamabad Administration on the directives of Interior Minister Rehman Malik in April this year, after they were acquitted by the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi Bench in a case of terrorism.

They were charged with carrying explosives and illegal weapons, and abetting the fatal suicide attack on Army Surgeon General (retd) Mushtaq Baig on February 25, 2008.

The men were first arrested by Saddar Baruni police on January 29, 2009 from a house in Dhoke Lakhan, near Dhamial Army Aviation Base.

According to the police, they were found to be in possession of more than 100kg of explosive material, 20 sacks of potassium chloride and a number of detonators.

The men who were set free, along with Qari Illyas and Muhammad Rizwan, were tried for their alleged role in the killing of Baig, who died in a suicide attack on Mall Road in Rawalpindi Cantonment on February 25, 2008.

However, the Anti-Terrorism Court acquitted the nine men in October last year, owing to inadequate evidence.

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