Four acquitted in explosives case

On the court’s orders, a separate FIR was also registered for harassment

HYDERABAD: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) acquitted on Saturday four men facing charges of setting off a low-intensity explosive in Nawabshah.

One of those acquitted was the brother of a university student, Farzana Jamali, who had accused Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University faculty of harassment, and had later claimed that her brother and father had been booked in separate FIRs to put pressure on her to withdraw her charges.

ATC judge Rasool Bux Soomro found no evidence during the trial that could lead to the conviction of Zuhaib Jamali, Muhammad Arif Panhwar, Haroon Panhwar and Nadir Bhangwar.

The B-Section police had nominated the four men in an FIR on charges of setting off a low-intensity bomb near a wheat warehouse on Sugar Mill Road in 2018.

Aijaz Jamali, Zuhaib’s father, told the local media after the acquittal that the family’s stance of being booked for trumped-up charges stood vindicated.

On the court’s orders, a separate FIR was also registered by Farzana for harassment, nominating varsity vice chancellor Arshad Saleem Arain and faculty member Aamir Saeed Khattak.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 26^th, 2020.