Karachi shut down: Terrorism charges dropped against 14 men

The suspects are believed to have orchestrated the city’s closure over the weekend.

KARACHI: Terrorism charges against 14 men arrested for their suspected involvement in shutting down the city over the weekend have been dropped.

The suspects no longer face the prospect of being tried in anti-terrorism courts after “terror-related” offences were removed from the cases registered against them.

On Monday, 10 men arrested by the Nabi Bux police and another four detained by the Mehmoodabad police were presented in the Anti-Terrorism Court-III. The police believe they were involved in orchestrating the Saturday shutdown.

The FIRs were filed under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997 and the Pakistan Penal Code sections related to rioting and carrying weapons. The suspects were also booked under Section 13-D of the Arms Ordinance related to possession of unlicensed firearms.



The police presented the men in court to obtain a remand, arguing that they were involved in terrorism. After looking at the FIRs, the special public prosecutor, Abdul Maroof, noted, however, that no property was torched, neither any police encounter took place nor was anyone injured. The prosecutor could also not find any evidence of the suspects firing aerial gunshots.

Maroof argued that Section 7 of the anti-terrorism act be cancelled from the cases since they did not “fall within the ambits of terrorism”. The suspects will now be presented before a judicial magistrate.

The suspects were later produced in courts of judicial magistrates who remanded eight of them to police custody and three were sent to jail.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 18^th, 2012.