PESHAWAR: An anti-terrorism court here has acquitted three suspected militants of the Islamic State group, who were allegedly arrested by the counter terrorism department around two months ago on the charge of possessing explosives and arms for carrying out acts of terrorism.

The court ruled that the prosecution couldn’t prove its case against the accused, including Bilal, Abdul Qadeer and Ikhtiar Gul, all residents of Mohmand tribal district, while the evidence available on record didn’t connect them with the commission of the offence.

The CTD had claimed that they got a tip-off about the movement of terrorists along with explosives and laid a cordon on a road near Mathani area on the outskirts of Peshawar on Aug 28, 2020.

According to it, its personnel spotted the three accused riding a motorcycle and carrying a sack and asked them to stop. During search, 43kg explosive substances, detonators, prima cord, safety fuses, pistols and hand grenades were seized.

The CTD had claimed that the accused belonged to the banned militant outfit, Islamic State, and intended to carry out acts of terrorism during the month of Muharram.

Rules prosecution failsed to prove terrorist charge

An FIR was later registered against them at the CTD police station under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, Section 15-A of the Arms Act and Section 5 of the Explosive Substance Act.

Shabbir Hussain Gigyani, lawyer for the accused, insisted that his clients were charged in a concocted case.

He said the accused were picked up by security forces many weeks before the alleged explosives seizure and that they were in fact the victims of the enforced disappearances.

The lawyer said father of one of the accused, Bilal, had also filed a habeas corpus petition with a local court two months before the arrest.

He added that the security agencies later handed over the accused to the CTD before they were charged in a fake terrorism case.

Mr Gigyani said the CTD claimed that his clients were highly-trained terrorists, but the question arose if they were so trained, why they didn’t attack the CTD officials despite carrying hand grenades and pistols and instead, they surrendered without resistance.

He said there were glaring discrepancies in the prosecution’s case, which were evident from contradictions in statements recorded by different witnesses.

However, the state prosecutor claimed that the accused were caught red-handed carrying explosives and arms.

The accused were granted bail by the court after their arrest. However, they remained behind bars over failure to produce surety bonds.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2020