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Safoora bus attack: Four suspects acquitted over lack of evidence

Safoora bus attack: Four suspects acquitted over lack of evidence
January 29, 2019
KARACHI (92 News) – An anti-terrorism court (ATC) has acquitted four suspect involved in Safoora bus attack case due to lack of evidence against them. As per details garnered, Zahid Motiwala, Sultan Qamar Siddiqui, Hussain Umar, and Sajjad Naeem were acquitted on Tuesday because the police failed to present sufficient evidence against them. In the verdict, the court stated that the police failed to present any evidence against the suspects. The court also ruled that the interim challan submitted by the police in March 2018 is weak and full of mistakes. “The challan shows that the suspects were out on bail.” The court noted that the high court had returned the passports and bail bonds to the suspects. This shows that there wasn’t any proof of the suspects’ involvement in the case. The police argued that Zahid Motiwala supplied the weapons for the attack. The court said that Motiwala sells weapons to licence holders. Rejecting the argument of police, the court said the dealer is not responsible if people misuse the weapons. In May 2016, a military court had awarded capital punishment in the case to Saad Aziz alias Tin Tin, Tahir Hussain Minhas alias Sain, Asadur Rehman alias Malik, Mohammad Azhar Ishrat alias Majid and Nasir on May 12 last year. Forty-six members of the Ismaili community, including women and children, were killed when gunmen attacked their bus near Safoora Goth in Karachi in 2015. According to the police, six people are still absconding in the case.
COAS confirms death to five convicts of Safoora tragedy
On May 12 , 2016, Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif confirmed death sentences awarded to five hardcore terrorists who perpetrated Safoora Chowrangi bus attack and were also involved in improvised explosive device (IED) blast near Saleh Masjid Karachi, killing of social worker Sabeen Mahmud and attacks on law enforcement agencies.
These convicts were tried by military courts. Details of the case are as under: Tahir Hussain Minhas s/o Khadim Hussain Minhas( Convict No 1), Saad Aziz s/o Abdul Aziz Sheikh ( Convict No 2), Asadur Rehman s/o Atiqur Rehman ( Convict No 3), Hafiz Nasir s/o Afzal Ahmed (Convict No 4) and Muhammad Azhar Ishrat s/o Ishrat Rasheed Ahmed (Convict No 5). These five convicts were active member of al-Qaeda. They were involved in attacking a bus of Ismaili community at Safoora Chowrangi Karachi which resulted in death and injuries to the passengers. They were also involved in an attack on Saleh Masjid Karachi, killing of a social worker Miss Sabeen and attacking Law Enforcement Agencies. The convicts had admitted their offences before the trial court. The Convict No 1 was tried for nine charges, Convict No 2 for 10 charges, Convict No 3 on four charges and Convict No 4 and 5 were tried for five charges and all were awarded death sentences.