ATC acquits man accused of killing 9 members of a family

PESHAWAR: Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Wednesday acquitted a man charged with attacking the house of an activist of an Amn Lashkar and killing nine persons of a family.
The Anti-Terrorism Court judge, Abdur Rauf Khan, acquitted the terror suspect, Zubair, who was accused of killing nine members of a family.The state lawyer failed to prove charges and the accused was acquitted for lack of evidence and contradiction in the statements of official witnesses.
As per the first information report, nine men of one family were killed when militants stormed the house of an Aman Lashkar activist in Mashokhel on the outskirts of Peshawar on February 12, 2014.
Those who were killed in the attack were Pir Israr, Haji Muhammad, Said Wali Shah, Sadaqat Shah, Yasir, Sabir, Akhtar Ali Shah, Saddam and Rahmat Ali.During hearing of the trial, the lawyer for the accused, Sartaj Khan, submitted before the bench that the police arrested him after the incident.
He said that it was a midnight occurrence and dozens of attackers had taken part in the attack.He stated that the police did not hold identification exercise of the arrested accused, which was necessary for the occurrence. Besides, he pointed out that there was clear conflict in the statements of the witnesses in the case.
After hearing the arguments from the lawyer and public prosecutor in the case, the judge passed a short order and acquitted the terror suspect with the observations that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against the accused.
Separately, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) sought reply from the Secretary Irrigation, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for ignoring court order about posting of a sub-divisional officer (SDO).A two-member bench comprising Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Muhammad Daud Khan asked the Secretary Irrigation to submit his reply and explain as to why he did not comply with the Service Tribunal order about posting of the petitioner as SDO.
During hearing of the case, Habibullah Mohmand, counsel for SDO Manzoor Hayat submitted that his client was appointed as SDO Kabul River on June 27, 2014. He said after five days he was transferred from the post, which he challenged in the KP Service Tribunal.He said the Service Tribunal suspended his transfer on August 6, 2014 and the government on the court’s directive again posted him as SDO Irrigation Department Kabul River.