Badhaber airbase attack: ATC acquits alleged female ‘facilitator’

PESHAWAR: An anti-terrorism court on Wednesday acquitted an accused allegedly involved in planning the attack on the Pakistan Air Force’s base camp in Badhaber in which 29 persons, including security personnel, were martyred in September 2015.

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) had claimed to have arrested Zari Zadgai in March 2016 for allegedly planning the attack by collecting security information of the base, facilitating the suicide attackers and providing them stay in her house.

She was also charged with arranging a vehicle for the terrorists, involvement in anti-state activities and carrying explosives.
Arrested by the Special Police Unit of CTD, it was informed that during the investigation, Zadgai alias Perveen had confessed to providing food to the terrorists and empty bottles to assemble explosives devices.

Zadgai, wife of Mewa Khan, is a resident of Telabanad village near the provincial capital. She hired senior lawyer Shabbir Hussain Gigyani to contest her case.

Her counsel contended that during the trial the prosecution had failed to provide solid evidence under which she could be indicted for planning such a heinous assault on the PAF base.

He added there were also irregularities in the confessional statement. Therefore, on the ground of poor investigation and lack of solid evidence against his client, he asked the court to release her.

A judicial magistrate had recorded the confessional statement of the accused under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

But the lawyer contended that the confessional statement did not carry any legal weight.

“It is very weak evidence,” said Gigyani.

“It might have been taken through [coercive means like] torture or via a proposal that she will be treated well if she accepts the charges.”

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He added she has two daughters in confinement; hence she was in a better position to make a compromise and accept the charges.

The prosecution accused her of visiting the airbase before the attack as a beggar to collect information relating to security arrangements of the base. However, no proper evidence was presented to support the charge, her lawyer claimed.

Gigyani added that no explosives or weapons were recovered from her possession or from her house.

“The date of her arrest, presented to the court, is misleading,” said the defense lawyer, adding, “She has been kept in illegal confinement along with her minor daughters, which is a grave violation of human rights and laws.”

After recording the statements and concluding arguments from both sides, the judge of ATC-2, Tariq Yousafzai, exonerated the accused of all charges for lack of evidence.

Source: Express Tribune