ATC acquits five ‘Daesh suspects’

MULTAN: The Anti-Terrorism Special Court No 2 has acquitted five Daesh suspects as the prosecution failed to prove charges against them.

According to the prosecution, the verdict had earlier been reserved and was pronounced on Wednesday. The prosecution said the five former Sargodha College principal Abdul Shad Bilqis Bibi, 80, Sheraz Allam, Umar bin Khalid and Sheikh Muhammad Shahid allegedly belonged to the Amal Zahri group of the ISIS. The Counterterrorism Department arrested them when they were planning attacks on important installations on the bank of the River Sutlej near Kahror Pacca and three hand grenades and a large number of arms were recovered from their possession. Police said Bilqis Bibi used to supply suicide jackets to the accused.

Athar Hassan Shah, the lawyer of the accused, described the story of the prosecution as a cradle of lies and informed the court that the five accused were arrested from different cities at different times. They do not even know each other. They are not even familiar with explosives and cannot even think of killing a human, let alone an insect. The investigation officer also failed to satisfy the court regarding the story narrated in the FIR.