Jand Attock explosions: Court absolves 3 men as evidence falls short
Men were accused of planning separate bomb blasts in 2010.
RAWALPINDI:
An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) acquitted three men accused in two separate cases of carrying out bomb blasts in Attock — citing lack of evidence against them on Thursday.
ATC-II Special Judge Rana Masood Akhtar absolved Ikram Saeed, Naseem Ahmed and Tariq Ismail – all residents of Jand Attock – of charges of carrying out two bomb blasts in a market of Jand.
In the first case, a bomb planted in a tin used for milk exploded in a CD shop that caused injuries to a number of people on January 28, 2010. In the second case a man died after a bomb exploded in a hotel in the same locality on February 28, 2010.
The deceased was later identified as Mudassir Ali who is said to be an accomplice of the other bomb planters and got killed as the bomb exploded before time, the Attock police had said. On the information provided by the parents of the deceased, the Jand police in Attock arrested the accused. Ali’s father had told the police that these men were friends of his son and a day before the blast he was with them.
The Attock police had said that the arrested men were activists of Harkatul Mujahideen Punjab and carried out the blasts to discourage traders from selling CDs and “obscene” material.
Advocate Raja Rizwan Abbasi, defending the three accused, informed The Express Tribune that he had argued before the court that all private witnesses in the first case had retracted their statements. In the second case, the lawyer said that he had argued before the court that there had been no cross-match of DNA tests between Ali and his father.
Abbasi added that no doctor had appeared in the court to support the claim of the prosecution that Ali’s DNA test was carried out and cross-matched with his father’s.
After hearing the arguments, the trial judge acquitted the men citing ‘benefit of doubt’ and ordered the release of the acquitted men if they were not wanted in any other criminal case.
Public prosecutor Sheikh Istajabat Ali, lamenting the acquittal decision, vowed to challenge the verdict in the high court.
In April last year, the court had acquitted another man, Shahid Ali, after it was revealed that he was forced by the police to confess helping the three accused.
Another accused, Imran Sattar, had been declared a proclaimed offender by the trial court.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 6th, 2012.
An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) acquitted three men accused in two separate cases of carrying out bomb blasts in Attock — citing lack of evidence against them on Thursday.
ATC-II Special Judge Rana Masood Akhtar absolved Ikram Saeed, Naseem Ahmed and Tariq Ismail – all residents of Jand Attock – of charges of carrying out two bomb blasts in a market of Jand.
In the first case, a bomb planted in a tin used for milk exploded in a CD shop that caused injuries to a number of people on January 28, 2010. In the second case a man died after a bomb exploded in a hotel in the same locality on February 28, 2010.
The deceased was later identified as Mudassir Ali who is said to be an accomplice of the other bomb planters and got killed as the bomb exploded before time, the Attock police had said. On the information provided by the parents of the deceased, the Jand police in Attock arrested the accused. Ali’s father had told the police that these men were friends of his son and a day before the blast he was with them.
The Attock police had said that the arrested men were activists of Harkatul Mujahideen Punjab and carried out the blasts to discourage traders from selling CDs and “obscene” material.
Advocate Raja Rizwan Abbasi, defending the three accused, informed The Express Tribune that he had argued before the court that all private witnesses in the first case had retracted their statements. In the second case, the lawyer said that he had argued before the court that there had been no cross-match of DNA tests between Ali and his father.
Abbasi added that no doctor had appeared in the court to support the claim of the prosecution that Ali’s DNA test was carried out and cross-matched with his father’s.
After hearing the arguments, the trial judge acquitted the men citing ‘benefit of doubt’ and ordered the release of the acquitted men if they were not wanted in any other criminal case.
Public prosecutor Sheikh Istajabat Ali, lamenting the acquittal decision, vowed to challenge the verdict in the high court.
In April last year, the court had acquitted another man, Shahid Ali, after it was revealed that he was forced by the police to confess helping the three accused.
Another accused, Imran Sattar, had been declared a proclaimed offender by the trial court.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 6th, 2012.