An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Wednesday referred Shaheen Air pilot’s case to the District and Sessions Court after removing sections of Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) from it.
ATC-III Judge Haroon Latif passed the orders while accepting an application filed by pilot Asmat Mehmood for the purpose.
During the hearing, the petitioner’s counsel submitted that the aircraft crash landing was an accident, but the police included sections of ATA in the FIR against his client. The counsel contended that the petitioner was innocent and inclusion of the ATA sections was not justified by facts of the case and the statements of witnesses.
He requested the court to remove those and the matter be forwarded to the Sessions Court for hearing.
The prosecution however opposed the request, submitting that the accused had endangered lives of 120 people travelling by the aircraft. He said that his negligence could have resulted in loss of lives of the passengers.
The court, after hearing detailed arguments of the parties, referred the case to the Sessions Court, observing that the act did not fall under the ATA.
Sarwar Road Police had registered a case against the pilot under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act on CAA’s complaint. At least 10 passengers were injured when the Shaheen plane crash-landed.
