ABBOTTABAD: An anti-terrorism court on Wednesday absolved MNAs Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar from the charges of firing and armed clash between the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement and security forces in North Waziristan tribal district last year.

The incident led to the killing of 13 people and injury of several others.Judge of the Bannu ATC Babar Ali Khan, who held the camp court here, accepted a petition of the prosecution for the withdrawal of the case.

The court also issued perpetual warrants for the arrest of seven of the absconders in the case, including Khan Wali, Noor Rehman, Gul Alam, Iftikhar, Rahim Ullah, Imran and Ihsaniullah.

The plea for the case withdrawal was filed on Mar 16, 2020.

The prosecution said as the charges against the two MNAs had not been framed, the provincial government had formally directed it on Feb 20 to withdraw the case under Section 7C of the KP Prosecution Act, 2005, read with Section 494 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

ATC issues perpetual arrest warrants for seven other accused in case

The court observed that the provisions laid down in Section 494 of CrPC empowered the public prosecutor to withdraw any case either generally or specifically with the permission of the court.

It added that under Section 7C of the KP Prosecution Act, the district public prosecutor could withdraw any case on the instructions of the home secretary.

The court observed that the case withdrawal plea submitted by the team of prosecutors was accompanied by the home secretary’s letter for the purpose.

MNAs Ali Wazir and Mohisn Dawar submitted a joint reply to the court in response to the petition and requested it to decide the withdrawal petition in accordance with the law.

After remaining behind bars for over three months in the case, they were freed after the grant of bail by the Peshawar High Court’s Bannu Bench on Sept 18, 2019.

As they were kept at the Haripur Central Prison, the case was first transferred by the government to Haripur and later to Abbottabad.

The FIR of the North Waziristan firing and clash was registered at the Counter Terrorism Department police station, Bannu Range, under different sections of Pakistan Penal Code, Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance and Section 7 of Anti- Terrorism Act on May 26, 2019.

The complainant alleged that MNAs Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar and seven other PTM leaders carried firearms, while 300-350 of their supporters wielded sticks before they approached the check post and shouted slogans against the Pakistan Army and other security agencies.

He added that the mob later threw stones on the checkpost, whereas Ali Wazir, Mohsin Dawar and others began gunfire injuring army personnel and people.

Three of the injured died afterward.

Defendant Ali Wazir was arrested there on May 26, 2019, whereas Mohsin Dawar had surrendered to the administration on May 30, 2019, after a tribal jirga had intervened and the government had announced compensation for the families of 13 people killed and others injured in the incident.

The defendants claimed that they were unarmed and they and their supporters were fired at from a military check post, which had resulted into the deaths and injuries.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2020