The Sindh High Court on Friday set aside conviction of doctor brothers and acquitted them of charges pertained to harbouring, providing medical treatment to Jundullah activists.
Dr Akmal Waheed, a cardiac specialist of NICVD and Dr Arshad Waheed, a kidney physician of JMPC, were sentenced to aggregate 18 years jail term with fine of Rs 1,30,000 each by anti terrorism court in Karachi on March 14, 2005 having found them guilty for harbouring and medical treatment to Jundullah activists Qasim and Shahzad Bajwa, involved in corps commander convoy and ranger mobile attack cases.
"Prosecution has miserably failed to prove case against the appellants, therefore, the conviction and sentence awarded to the appellants under the impugned judgement are set aside," SHC's division bench comprising Justice Mohammad Afzal Soomro and Justice Rehmat Hussain Jaffery ordered in its detailed 44-page judgement.
"The appellants are acquitted and set at liberty. They should be released forthwith if not required in any other case. The appeal is allowed."
The court observed in the judgement that evidence produced by prosecution had carried no weight in the cases and could not be relied upon against the appellants.
The doctor brothers, who set up medical camp for Afghan war victims near Pak-Afghan border after US invasion of Afghanistan in 2002, were mysteriously disappeared on June 17, 2004 in Karachi.
Police shown them arrested on July 2, 2004 in Corps Commander motorcade attack and ranger mobile attack cases along with banned Jundullah activists but later released on lack of evidence.
They were, however, prosecuted on charge with sheltering and training al Qaeda, Jundullah activists, providing them funds and medical treatment.
The charges pertained to providing facilitates of training to Jundullah activists by sending them to Wana and giving shelter to Abu Massab, Gul Hasan, and Qassam-ul-Sani, activists of al Qaeda also could not be proved by the prosecution in trial court.
M Ilyas Khan and Mohammad Farooq advocates appeared for the appellants and Special Prosecutor Iqtedar Ali Hashmi represented to the state.
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