ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Wednesday rejected the acquittal plea by Omar Ayub, a leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the opposition leader in National Assembly, in connection with a case involving the attack on general headquarters (GHQ).
Amjad Ali Shah, the ATC judge in Rawalpindi, had reserved its verdict regarding the case against Ayub following presentation of arguments by Babar Awan, the counsel for Ayub, and Zaheer Shah, the special public prosecutor.
Dismissing the acquittal plea, the court observed that the case was still in its preliminary stages, adding serious allegations were involved and the facts would only become clear after the trial and presentation of evidence.
In his arguments, the special public prosecutor said that acquittal pleas of other accused including Sheikh Rashid, Shireen Mazari, Amjad Niazi and Omar Tanveer Butt, had already been dismissed.
He took the plea that Ayub was named as an accused based on the confessional statements given by Wasiq Qayyum Abbasi and Omar Tanveer Butt – the former PTI leaders – hence there is no point for his acquittal in the case.
The prosecutor contended that the petition for acquittal could not be approved until the magistrate who recorded the confessional statements appeared before the court.
He also pointed out that the acquittal decisions of certain accused in related cases had been challenged at an anti-terrorism court in Sargodha.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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