Lahore: A Pakistani court Saturday freed an
Afghan man accused of involvement in a terror attack on a
Police Training School on the outskirts of Punjab's provincial
capital for want of evidence as he turned out to be a
rag-picker.
Hijratullah, an Afghan national, was believed to be
part of a group of terrorists who attacked the police facility
and was arrested from the site on March 30, 2009.
He was apprehended by local citizens when he was seen
hiding in fields and then moving slowly towards a helipad
allegedly with two grenades in his hand.
Some nine persons were killed during the attack while
three terrorists blew themselves up to avoid arrest.
During interrogation by police, Hijratullah had
reportedly confessed to be an accomplice of the attackers.
However, during his trial in an anti-terrorism court
in Lahore, he said the police had forced him to make that
statement.
Hijratullah told the court he was a rag-picker by
profession and had been at the site of the attack as an
onlooker.
The judge acquitted Hijratullah after declaring the
evidence presented against him by the prosecution as
"insufficient".
PTI
First Published: Saturday, June 19, 2010, 20:54