IHC restores terrorism charges in Fahad Malik murder case

ISLAMABAD: A division bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, here on Thursday set aside an order of the anti- terrorism court (ATC) that had deleted terrorism charges from the murder case of Barrister Fahad Malik.

Besides this, the ATC had also transferred the case to the session court for trial. ATC Judge Kausar Abbas Zaidi on December 21, 2016, had deleted charges of terrorism from the FIR and sent this matter for adjudication to the session court.

After the IHC bench set aside the ATC judgement, this matter will be heard once again by the ATC. The IHC bench has restored Section 7 of the anti- terrorism act (ATA) in this matter at the writ petition of Barrister Fahad Malik’s brother Jawad Sohrab Malik.

Barrister Fahad Malik was murdered on August 15, 2016, in Sector F-10/3 of Islamabad. Shalimar police then registered the FIR against Arshad Mehmood, Noman Khokhar and eight other persons. Complaint was lodged by Tariq Ayub, the Uncle of Fahad Malik, who was also injured in the firing incident.

Jawad Sohrab Malik, in his petition, had adopted before the IHC that the incident happened at a public place and people ran for lives due to heavy firing. Firing incident created panic in the public and therefore Section 7 ATA is applicable to this matter. In addition, he said horror, terror and fear spread in society especially because the suspects took pride over their actions. It is to mention here that Barrister Fahad Malik was the nephew of former Senate Chairman Mian Muhammad Soomro.

Murtaza Ali Shah adds from London: Speaking after the decision, Jawad Malik said that it took him 18 months to get justice to cross the first hurdle. “I am glad that the IHC judges have accepted my petition and restored anti-terrorism clauses and sent my brother’s murder case back to the anti-terrorism court. Allah has been kind and we are thankful that our case was heard on the merit. I thank all those people who supported our campaign. My brother was an innocent man and was killed in cold blood for no fault of his. There is still a long way to go but we are happy that justice has been done at this basic and crucial stage.”