The Supreme Court of Pakistan has dismissed an appeal to remove terrorism charges from the murder case of Barrister Fahad Malik. The court ruled in favour of keeping Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act in the murder case of the Islamabad based lawyer murdered on Margalla Road three years ago. The deceased was working as a lawyer to reach a compromise between two parties when he was allegedly murdered by accused Noman Khokhar, Raja Arshad and Hashim Khan. Last year in July, the Islamabad High Court set aside anti-terrorism court (ATC)’s directives to remove terrorism charges and transfer Barrister Fahad Malik murder case to a district and sessions court. Previously, Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Kausar Abbas Zaidi had accepted a plea from the accused for removing terrorism clauses from the FIR.
Published in Daily Times, February 2nd 2019.