2008 GPO suicide attack: Court acquits accused for want of evidence

Shahzad was accused of abetting attack by helping the bomber.

LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) acquitted on Wednesday an accused in the 2008 General Post Office (GPO) suicide attack case after police failed to produce evidence against him.

The attack had left 22 people – including 19 policemen – dead and several injured.

Shahzad, along with two others, was accused of abetting the attack by helping the suicide bomber. Shahzad was arrested while his two co-accused – Abdul Hameed and Imran Khalil – are still at large.

However, during the trial, the prosecutor failed to offer any admissible evidence against Shahzad, resulting in his acquittal.

According to a police report compiled on January 10, 2008, the suicide attack took place when a procession of lawyers was about to walk past the Mall Road in Lahore.

A bomber appeared from behind the State Bank building and detonated the explosives strapped to his body at a police checkpoint, killing the policemen manning the post.

A case was registered with the Old Anarkali police under sections 324, 302, 353, 186, 337 and 120-B of Pakistan Penal Code, sections 3 and 4 of the Explosive Substance Act and section 7 of the Anti Terrorism Act.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the ATC judge presiding over the hearing inside the Kot Lakhpat Jail acquitted Shahzad for want of evidence, as well as giving him benefit of the doubt.