A local court on Saturday acquitted Balochistan MPA Majeed Khan Achakzai in a vehicle tampering case related to the traffic incident that resulted in the death of a traffic sergeant in Quetta.
Though
the MPA was acquitted in this particular case, the case concerning the
death of the traffic sergeant is ongoing in an Anti-Terrorism Court as
it was registered under Section 322 (punishment for murder) of the
Anti-Terrorism Act.
"We have also challenged the
terrorism charge in a higher court because how can a traffic accident be
considered a terrorist act," his counsel said on Saturday.
In
June this year, traffic police official Haji Attaullah had been killed
after being run over by a vehicle that allegedly belonged to Achakzai.
The legislator's vehicle was speeding and rammed into the traffic
sergeant who was on duty at GPO Chowk, police had said.
CCTV
footage of the incident was shared widely on social media and sparked a
campaign demanding the arrest of the legislator, after which police had
apprehended Achakzai, who belongs to the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party,
from his residence in the Satellite Town area of Quetta.
He was produced in front of a judicial magistrate a week after the incident, after which he was remanded to police custody.
Prior to his remand, however, Achakzai had confessed to his involvement
in the accident and claimed to have agreed to compensate the family
members of the slain traffic policeman. Surprisingly, the Civil Lines
Police Station had still lodged a First Information Report against
'unknown individuals'.
Correction: The headline and
introduction of the story incorrectly stated that Majeed Achakzai had
been acquitted in the hit-and-run killing of the traffic constable. The
acquittal was, in fact, in a case pertaining to alleged vehicle
tampering by Achakzai after the hit-and-run incident. The traffic
constable killing case is still being tried in an Anti-Terrorism Court.
The error is regretted.
