A local court in Shangla acquitted Bisham Tehsil Chairman Sadeed Ur Rehman and provincial assembly candidate Sadar Rehman on Tuesday in connection with the violence that occurred on February 9, which resulted in the deaths of two youths allegedly due to police firing.
After detailed hearings and the presentation of testimonies and other evidence, the District Sessions Judge of Shangla, Mamrez Khan Khalil, ordered the acquittal of all eight individuals charged in the case, including Sadeed Ur Rehman and Sadar Rehman.
In the last general elections, Federal Minister for Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan Engineer Amir Muqam and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Haji Syed Fareen contested for the NA-11 Shangla constituency. Following the polls on February 8, thousands of PTI workers gathered at the main square in Alpuri to protest against alleged election rigging.
On the morning of February 9, a case was registered at the Alpuri police station against Haji Syed Fareen, a PTI candidate for the National Assembly and his son of Chairman Tehsil Basham, along with Provincial Assembly Saddar Rehman Advocate and eight others. They were accused of forcibly taking the official vehicle of the Assistant Election Commissioner at Alpuri Chowk, as well as snatching the forms 36 and 45 from 115 polling stations and other election materials. The accused were also charged with assaulting the officials present in the vehicle.
The accused were formally charged in the court of Sessions Judge Shangla. However, they denied the allegations. During the trial, the prosecution presented witnesses to testify against them.
After hearing arguments from both the defence lawyer, Sultan Room Advocate, and the government lawyer, Judge Mamrez Khan Khalil ultimately ordered the acquittal of all the individuals named in the case.
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