KARACHI: An antiterrorism court (ATC) has acquitted two men in a terror financing case for want of evidence against them.

Sajjad Hussain and Zakir Hussain, said to be associated with the outlawed Sipah-i-Muhammad Pakistan (SMP), were charged with raising funds and using the money for terrorism in Karachi.

The ATC-XVI judge, who conducted the trial in the Judicial Complex inside the Central Prison, ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against the accused persons who appeared on bail in court.

According to state prosecutor Muhammad Raza, the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) had arrested two alleged target killers — Muhammad Hyder, alias Chhota Muhmmad, and Syed Mehtab Hussain, alias Muchhar, — said to be associated with the SMP, in 2019 in an encounter case.

During grilling, they allegedly disclosed the names of facilitators (Sajjad Hussain and Zakir Hussain), who were providing them financing for their personal use and terror activities in Karachi. After their alleged confession, the CTD had lodged a separate case and booked them over terror financing charges.

Prosecutor Raza also stated that on Aug 15, 2020, the court acquitted eight accused persons, including Hyder and Mehtab, and declared Sajjad and Zakir as proclaimed absconders.

Four years later, acting on a tip-off, the CTD apprehended Sajjad and Zakir and framed charges against them.

During the trial, the defence counsels for the accused, Abid Zaman and Osama Ali, argued that the CTD had falsely implicated their clients in that case.

They contended that they (accused) were not nominated in the FIR which was registered after the alleged disclosure of the ‘target killer’.

They also stated that during the investigation, two suspected accounts in a private bank were scrutinised. One account allegedly belongs to Ms Azeem Fatima, wife of co-accused Mehtab, and the second account was associated with transactions made through those accounts.

They argued that the account holders had not been included in the list of accused persons. Though their clients did not make any transaction, they were nominated in the final charge sheet submitted by the IO in Feb, 2020.

A case was registered at CTD police station under Sections 11-I (use of money or other property for the purposes of terrorism), 11-H (fund raising) and 11-N (punishment under Sections 11H to 11K) read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Published in Dawn, December 31st, 2024