Decision reversed: Seven acquitted in G-B Assembly deputy speaker’s murder

Earlier, an anti-terrorism court in Gilgit had handed death sentences to the accused.

GILGIT: A Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) court acquitted seven people accused of killing former G-B Assembly deputy speaker Asad Zaidi and his colleague.

The decision was announced by G-B Chief Court Justices Wazir Shakil and Muhammad Alam, paving the way for their release. “The lack of evidence led to their exoneration,” a lawyer said on Thursday.

The acquittal reverses a decision announced earlier by an anti-terrorism court in Gilgit. The court had sentenced Shakil Ahmad, Mansoor Alam, Mirbaz Khan, Amjad Wali, Farooq, Arshad Aman and Faizan to death last year, prompting them to appeal against the decision.



Former deputy speaker Zaidi, a resident of Skardu, had been murdered in April 2009 in Gilgit city after assailants ambushed his vehicle on Park Road. A Diamer Valley resident was also killed in the incident and his driver injured.

Zaidi was the deputy speaker of the then Northern Areas Legislative Assembly (NALA) and a popular politician from Skardu. He was elected deputy speaker in 2004.

Soon after the acquittal, the inmates were released from a jail in Ghizer Valley.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2013.