Terrorism charges dropped against JUIF leader

MANSEHRA: The Anti-Terrorism Court in Hazara has deleted various sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 registered in the first information report (FIR) against the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUIF) leader Mufti Kifayatullah.

“The court in its verdict annulled the anti-terrorism sections incorporated against my client in the FIR and declared them contrary to freedom of speech rights enshrined in the country’s constitution,” Yasir Huda Swati, the counsel for Kifayatullah, told reporters here on Wednesday.

He said that Anti-Terrorism Court Hazara Judge Justice Sajjad Ahmad Jan after hearing counsels from both sides transferred the case to the district and sessions judge in Mansehra for the further proceedings of the case registered by the government on December 31, 2020, at the Baffa Police Station.

“The client would now appear before the district and sessions judge on January 30,” Swati said.

Swati said that ATC’s sections 6 (7) and 11(X) 2(3) were deleted from the FIR.

The counsel recalled that the then federal government had alleged that the JUIF leader had instigated people through his anti-state remarks at talk shows aired by the various news channels.