3 facilitators of Deobandi terrorists acquitted in Hayatabad Shia mosque bombing case

An anti-terrorism court in Peshawar acquitted three Deobandi militants of the charge of facilitating a Hayatabad Township’s Imamia mosque attack in 2015, which had left 18 Shia Muslims martyred. The acquittal shows how influential and powerful are terrorists in Pakistan that sometimes they are allowed to break the jails and sometimes prosecution fail to shoulder their responsibility to ensure justice to the victims.

The ATC judge pronounced the order on Wednesdayafter the defence and prosecution lawyers completed arguments in the case.
He observed that the prosecution didn’t prove its case against the accused, including Najeebullah, Amanullah and Riazullah, and therefore, they had been acquitted of the terrorism charge.
The attack had taken place at the Imamia Masjid in Phase 5 of Hayatabad Township on Feb 13, 2015, whose FIR was registered at the Hayatabad police station. Three suicide bombers had attacked the mosque by first firing at worshippers and hurling hand grenades at them and later blowing themselves up.
The prosecution had alleged that the bombers belonged to the banned Deobandi militant outfit, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (Tariq Geedar group). The deceased also included deputy superintendent of police Naveed Abbas.
About the three accused, the prosecution alleged that they were arrested on basis of intelligence reports. It added that the accused persons had facilitated the attackers and had provided them logistic support as well as place to stay.
The prosecution also alleged that the accused had also brought mosque attackers to the area on different occasions to make them familiar with the area.
It said following their arrest, two of the accused had recorded statements admitting that they had facilitated the attack.
Defence lawyers Tafseel Khan Afridi and Saeed Khan said the accused were falsely implicated in the case. They said the police had not made any recovery from the accused.
Tafseel Khan said the entire prosecution case was based on so-called confessional statements of two of the accused. He added that the confession statements of the accused were secured under duress and coercion as they were tortured in custody and that the statements were not voluntarily recorded.
The lawyer said the magistrate concerned while recording the said statements had not fulfilled the requirements provided under the law.
He added that there were different judgments of the superior courts stating that only on the basis of confessional statement, an accused couldn’t be convicted and that the prosecution had to produce some other corroborative evidence.
The state prosecutor said the prosecution had a very valid case and the confessional statements of the accused clearly proved their involvement in the offence.
He said the accused belonged to a banned Deobandi terrorist outfit and it was proved that the attackers had stayed with them in Peshawar.