ATC clears four men of charges of facilitating Safoora bus attack

An anti-terrorism court has acquitted four men who were accused of facilitating terrorists who carried out the Safoora bus attack in 2015 after no evidence surfaced against them.

ATC-VI acquitted Naeem Sajid, Sultan Qamar Siddiqui, Hussain Umer Siddiqui and Zahid Abdul Qadir Motiwala under Section 265-K of the Code of Criminal Procedure following the applications moved by their lawyers.

These men had said they had already been found innocent by a military court which conducted the trial, yet they were not being cleared of the charges. They had also approached the doors of the appellate judicial forums too seek relief.

The ATC-VI judge ruled that the prosecution was not in possession of any cogent evidence to make out prima facie a case against the applicants. He added that the military court had also disposed of the case by sentencing the terrorists and acquitting the applicants.

Three out of these four applicants, Sajid, who is an exporter of carpets, Sultan Qamar, who is an arms dealer, and Hussain Umer, who is a teacher, remained in custody of the authorities while Motiwala, who is also an arms dealer, remained on bail throughout the case.

The investigators had arrested them following the revelation that some of the weapons used in the attack were bought from and through them. They, however, later proved that neither they had any commission in the offence nor they had violated any law in selling the guns.

The judge observed: “It appears that there stands no case against the above noted applicants; hence, I hereby, acquit them by allowing the applications under Section 256-K of the CrPC and so also disposing all other appurtenant applications.”

Forty-five people were killed and eight seriously wounded in the attack on the bus belonging to the Ismaili community in Safoora Goth neighborhood on May 13, 2015. At least 10 terrorists took part in the attack.

The army had announced in May 2016 death sentences had been handed down by a military court to five people -- Tahir Minhas, Saad Aziz, Asadur Rehman, Azhar Ishrat and Hafiz Nasir Ahmed -- for their involvement in the bus attack and also in the murder of social activist Sabeen Mahmud.

Some of the convicts are said to be educated and studied at prestigious institutions of the country. According to the investigators, they had taken inspiration from the global terrorist outfit, Islamic States, and were involved in another similar offence too on sectarian and religious grounds.