Peshawar High Court has granted bail to Imtiaz, alias Tora Shappa, an accused in the 2023 Police Lines attack case, raising serious questions over investigative performance and prosecution handling in a high-profile terrorism trial.
Imtiaz was arrested by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) Peshawar in 2023 as a facilitator in the Police Lines Mosque suicide attack, which resulted in over 100 casualties, including martyrs and injured. Following his arrest, the charge sheet was submitted in the Anti-Terrorism Court Peshawar.
However, during the past three years, police witnesses repeatedly failed to appear before the court and could not record their testimonies, significantly delaying trial proceedings.
The court noted that the accused is a minor and, under juvenile law, his trial should have been completed within six months. It further observed that despite the High Court granting police a 90-day deadline in August 2024 to conclude the case, little to no progress had been made.
It is pertinent to recall that the Police Lines attack took place on January 30, 2023, when a suicide bomber targeted a mosque inside the compound, resulting in the martyrdom of more than 90 police personnel and injuries to 245 others. The banned outfit Jamaat-ul-Ahrar had claimed responsibility for the attack.
