Pirwadhai Mor blast: Two suspects acquitted

RAWALPINDI:

An anti-terrorism court on Thursday exonerated two men of the charges for their involvement in a suicide attack in Rawalpindi two years ago citing lack of evidence.

Special Judge Anti-Terrorism Court-1 (ATC) Shahid Rafique acquitted Qari Sanaullah Abbasi and Rizwan Qadir from the charges of abetting and supporting the suicide attacker.

Six people were killed and 11 others injured after a Suzuki pick-up van was targeted by the a teenage suicide bomber near Pirwadhai Mor on Peshawar Road in Rawalpindi on January 11, 2009.

According to the officials, the court granted the benefit of doubt to the accused as the investigators and prosecution “failed to prove their case”.

The prosecution had accused the two men who were arrested on June 16, 2009, of dropping the suicide bomber at Pirwadhai on the night of January 11, saying the men were part of a terrorist organisation that operated from the tribal areas.

“The only connection made by the prosecution was that three officials of CIA present near the scene of blast saw the two men dropping the bomber,” said Advocate Basharatullah Khan. The counsel said that the policemen never recorded the statements of the suspects and the IO had admitted that the witnesses never came to him.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 23^rd, 2011.