ATC drops terrorism charges in news anchor murder case

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court on Monday dropped the terrorism charges from the DHA double murder case while observing that the killings were an outcome of a financial dispute.

Pronouncing the order reserved on a previous hearing, the ATC-1 judge said Atif Zaman had a business dispute with anchorperson Mureed Abbas and Khizar Hayat and prima facie he was killed because of this which just not justify trial under the terrorism charges. On July 9, Atif allegedly killed Abbas and their mutual friend Hayat in Defence Housing Authority. Atif’s brother Adil Zaman who accompanied his brother during the killing spree remains absconding.

The application to remove the Anti-Terrorism Act clause was moved by Atif’s lawyer arguing that the case did not fit into the definition of terrorism and the charge was included only to persecute his client. He said the case falls in the jurisdiction of the sessions court as it happened due to personal rivalry. Opposing the plea, the prosecutor said the case should be heard under the ATA.