Lack of evidence: Court frees 3 bombing suspects
Prosecution says they will challenge the verdict in high court.
RAWALPINDI:
Three men charged with carrying out two separate bomb blasts in Attock were acquitted on Thursday after the prosecution failed to provide sufficient evidence.
Anti-Terrorism Court-II Special Judge Rana Masood Akhtar absolved Ikram Saeed, Naseem Ahmed and Tariq Ismail, all residents of Jand in Attock, from the charges of carrying out two bomb blasts in Jand.
The first blast occurred on January 28, 2010 when a tin can used for milk exploded in a CD shop. No one was killed. The second blast occurred a month later on February 28 in a nearby hotel, killing one person. Attock police said Mudassir Ali, the casualty, was setting up the bomb when it exploded.
Ali’s parents led the police to the three suspects. His father told police that Ali was with Saeed, Ahmed and Ismail the day before the blast. The police said all three suspects were activists of Harkatul Mujahideen Punjab and carried out the blasts to discourage shopkeepers from selling CDs and obscene material.
In the case of the CD market blast, all private witnesses retracted their statements, according to the advocate of the suspects. The evidence in the hotel blast too was flaky, with there being no proof that the man who died in the blast was Ali. The Attock police had said that they had conducted a DNA test to establish Ali’s identity, but did not back it up with documentary evidence.
Justice Akhtar, giving the suspects the benefit of the doubt, acquitted the suspects of the charges.
Public Prosecutor Sheikh Istajabat Ali said they will challenge the verdict in high court.
In April last year, the court acquitted another man, Shahid Ali, after he revealed that he was forced to confess to helping the three suspects.
Another accused in the case, Imran Sattar, has been declared a proclaimed offender by the trial court.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 6th, 2012.
Three men charged with carrying out two separate bomb blasts in Attock were acquitted on Thursday after the prosecution failed to provide sufficient evidence.
Anti-Terrorism Court-II Special Judge Rana Masood Akhtar absolved Ikram Saeed, Naseem Ahmed and Tariq Ismail, all residents of Jand in Attock, from the charges of carrying out two bomb blasts in Jand.
The first blast occurred on January 28, 2010 when a tin can used for milk exploded in a CD shop. No one was killed. The second blast occurred a month later on February 28 in a nearby hotel, killing one person. Attock police said Mudassir Ali, the casualty, was setting up the bomb when it exploded.
Ali’s parents led the police to the three suspects. His father told police that Ali was with Saeed, Ahmed and Ismail the day before the blast. The police said all three suspects were activists of Harkatul Mujahideen Punjab and carried out the blasts to discourage shopkeepers from selling CDs and obscene material.
In the case of the CD market blast, all private witnesses retracted their statements, according to the advocate of the suspects. The evidence in the hotel blast too was flaky, with there being no proof that the man who died in the blast was Ali. The Attock police had said that they had conducted a DNA test to establish Ali’s identity, but did not back it up with documentary evidence.
Justice Akhtar, giving the suspects the benefit of the doubt, acquitted the suspects of the charges.
Public Prosecutor Sheikh Istajabat Ali said they will challenge the verdict in high court.
In April last year, the court acquitted another man, Shahid Ali, after he revealed that he was forced to confess to helping the three suspects.
Another accused in the case, Imran Sattar, has been declared a proclaimed offender by the trial court.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 6th, 2012.