ATC acquits four in 2014 Karachi airport attack case

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) acquitted on Tuesday four persons in the airport attack case.

Announcing the acquittal at Karachi Central Jail's ATC complex, the court observed that the prosecution had failed to prove the involvement of the four accused in facilitating banned outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) for perpetrating the attack on Karachi airport on 2014.

The acquitted persons include Sarmad Siddiqui, Nadeem alias Burger, Asif Zaheer and Abdul Rashid.

The court directed the relevant authorities to release the four men if they were not booked in any other case.

It further directed the authorities to issue lifelong arrest warrants for the eight others accused in the case, including Mullah Fazlullah and TTP spokesperson Shahidullah Shahid.

According to the police, ten terrorists had attacked Karachi airport on June 8, 2014. As many as 27 people, including security personnel and airport employees, were killed in the incident. Besides, all 10 attackers were killed during an encounter.

Following the incident, Sarmad Siddiqui and others accused in the case were arrested for facilitating the attack. They were accused of providing logistics, weapons and funds to the attackers.

According to Sarmad Siddiqui's lawyer, Advocate Imtiaz Ali, 39 out of 98 witnesses in the case had given their statements to the court, while the Counter-Terrorism Department could not present any concrete evidence against his client.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 30^th, 2020.