Four suspected militants set free in explosives case in Pakistan

Peshawar [Pakistan], May 29 : Pakistan's anti-terrorism court on Saturday acquitted four suspected members of a militant group arrested by the counter-terrorism department (CTD) last year over possessing explosives, including suicide vests.
During the hearing, the Judge said that the prosecution has failed to prove its case against the four accused, including Zeenat Shah, Rehmatullah said Jamal and Saeed alias Aswad. The Judge further said that the evidence didn't connect the accused with the crime, Dawn reported.
All the accused were arrested by the CTD Peshawar on October 29, 2021, in the Khyber tribal district and were charged under Section 5 of the Explosive Substance Act, Sections 7 and 21 of the Anti-Terrorism Act Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The CTD had claimed that the accused were wanted men and were active members of the militant Islamic State group.
CTD also insisted that its raiding team had seized suicide jackets, improvised explosive devices, hand grenades, detonators, rocket launchers, mortar shells, safety fuses, and prima cord, which the accused intended to use in acts of terrorism, according to Dawn.
The lawyer for the accused, Shabbir Hussain Gigyani, said that his clients were falsely framed in the case and said they had no linkage with any military outfit.
He argued that the statements of the prosecution witnesses were in conflict with that of the expert of the bomb disposal unit.
While, the Peshawar High Court has kept the conviction aside of the father-son duo guilty of killing a person in 2013 and set them free.
Justice Lal Jan Khattak and Justice Abdul Shakoor accepted an appeal jointly filed by Syed Amir Ali Shah and his son, Syed Tanvir Ali Shah, of Swabi, against their conviction, reported Dawn.
The two were convicted and sentenced by an additional district and sessions judge on October 8, 2018. They received life imprisonment and were also fined Rs 1 million to be paid as compensation to the legal heirs of the deceased.
The appellants were charged with the murder of a resident of their village, Irfan Khan, over a verbal altercation on July 18, 2013.
The counsel contended that the 'so-called' witnesses couldn't prove their presence during the alleged seizure of explosives, while the statements of the prosecution witnesses were also in conflict with the 'medical evidence'.