Court acquits MPA Arshad Umarzai of attempted murder charges

CHARSADDA: The district and sessions judge here on Wednesday acquitted lawmaker Arshad Umarzai and his brother in a case in which they were charged with attempt to murder former minister and Awami National Party (ANP) leader Bashir Khan Umarzai and his son Shakil Umarzai.

District and Sessions Judge Muneera Abbasi acquitted Arshad Umarzai, who is Member Provincial Assembly (MPA) of Qaumi Watan Party (QWP)) and also special advisor to the chief minister on technical education, and others of the charges after hearing both the parties and the state lawyer in the case.

An First Information Report (FIR) was lodged against Arshad Umarzai and his brother Khurshid Umarzai, the brothers of late QWP MPA Alam Zeb Umarzai, after the former provincial minister Bashir Khan Umarzai was injured along with his son Shakil Umarzai, also a former MPA, in a roadside bombing in Charsadda. They were charged under sections 324, 427, 148, 149 of Pakistan Penal Code and sections 3 and 4 of Explosives Substance Act.

During hearing, Babar Khan Yousafzai and Ghulam Mohyuddin Malik, counsels of Arshad Umarzai and others, submitted that as per the FIR, Bashir Khan Umarzai was coming back from the District and Sessions Court in Charsadda after attending a hearing when his vehicle was targetted near Khan Garhi Bridge with a remote controlled device on January 12, 2013.

In the blast, Bashir Umarzai, his son Shakil Umarzai, former tehsil nazim Zafarullah Khan, driver Liaqat and three policemen sustained injuries. The driver later succumbed to his injuries and died in the hospital.