A Chinese national arrested on blasphemy charges has been released on bail by an Abbottabad anti-terrorism court.
Judge Sajjad Ahmad Jan ordered the release of the foreigner — working on the Dasu hydropower project in Kohistan district — who had been taken into custody after a mob accused him of having committed blasphemy earlier this month.
The Chinese worker was released from police custody and shifted to an undisclosed location on orders of the ATC judge in return for Rs200,000 in a local bank as surety bonds.
The counsels for the suspect including Atif Ali Jadoon, Mohammad Arif Masud and the deputy public persecutor were present in the court. They pleaded that their client was not guilty.
During the hearing, the Chinese national was not produced before the judge because of security reasons.
The joint investigation team (JIT) presented the records of the accusers and the Chinese man in the court.
Kamila Station House Officer Naseerudden, who is the main complainant in the case, appeared in court with the relevant records.
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The judge in his order said that labourers, including Gulistan, Shafi, Qadir and translator Yasir, got registered the first information report (FIR) in the case after two days on April 17 as the incident occurred on April 15.
They could neither produce testimonials in support of their charges nor could they prove charges in their respective statements before the JIT and narrated the hearsay story.
The judge in his order said that the translator (Yasir ) was 35/40 feet away from a Chinese man who is the head of the heavy transports at the Dasu Dam Project at the time of occurrence and labourer Gulistan presumed that the latter uttered the sacrilegious remarks.
The FIR of the incident was registered at Kamila Police Station, Upper Kohistan, under Sections 295-C of the PPC and Section 6/7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Maulana Waliullah Tohidi, a member of Ulema Jirga constituted by the local clerics after the incident to oversee the Chinese national blasphemy case, said the release of the Chinese national was a judicial matter and they accepted it wholeheartedly but said the translator Yasir who levelled false accusations against the latter should be taken to justice under the relevant sections of the law as he instigated locals Kohistanis to come onto streets.
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The sources in JIT told the Chinese national accused of blasphemy would be sent back to his country as soon as this case wraps up.