Tribune Take: Infamy, hero worship for acquitted Lal Masjid cleric
Khawaja Naveed Ahmed, advocated Supreme Court of Pakistan, discusses how the prosecution failed to meet the burden of proof required to convict Abdul Aziz.
Ahmed says in such cases an acquittal is expected due to a lack of witnesses willing to testify against the accused. He also cites the Lal Masjid counter narrative running in favour of the Lal Masjid cleric in this regard.
The Express Tribune correspondent Saba Imtiaz, who interviewed the Lal Masjid cleric and his wife earlier this year, adds that the couple perceived such court cases against them to be more of a "nuisance" and are very aware of their popularity, which has been amplified with government registered cases against them.
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COMMENTS (7)
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Isn't hero worship rather similar to idol worship? Both try to objectify a trait that is admired. Just wondering.
@Hairaan: You are very far off from reality! Thats all I can say!!!
@Khan: Do not get panicked sir. The man who orchestrated all that show had: 1) Attempted to hijack the plane he was travelling in from Colombo to Karachi. 2) Broke the constitution by imposing Martial Law. 3) Illegally and unconstitutionally suspended the CJ after threatening him in the GHQ. 4) Unlawfully imposed Emergency rule.
Have you been able to prosecute him on these charges? No. So please catch the bigger criminals in the first place.
So why are our Parliamentarians hibernating? What is their purpose if they can't change law of the land to protect innocent civilians from these barbarians. They must sit together and remove these flaws from PPC where a person was caught on camera on crime scene but can easily get away with it .. Why can't those footage be accepted as proof why can't LEA be accepted as witnesses as it all happened at the time of curfew. This guy was running Lal Masjid a place of worship but (1) He gave shelter to criminals inside it who were involved in kidnapping of civilians and (2) there were weapons in a place of worship so all responsibility is on his shoulders were they licensed weapons and were they issued to that address? (3) Those people he gave shelter to were involved in anarchy, sabotaging peace of the city and taking part in activities against the state as he gave them shelter thus another charge against him (4) These people were involved in firing at LEAs which is a crime too (5) due to that many LEAs died thus a charge of murder and attempted murder (6) He was caught running from that place when an operation was going on He needs to prove that he is innocent not vice versa. (7) There was a curfew imposed at that time and he was caught on the streets thus not respecting curfew is a crime too. I think our judges need more education to know the difference between listening to a well known criminal and understanding the circumstances.