Sheikh’s acquittal shows Pakistan is a terror-sponsor state, writes Afghanistan Times

The acquittal of notorious terrorist, Omar Saeed Sheikh, by the Supreme Court of Pakistan is a grave travesty of justice and a clear pointer to how the Pakistan Army has subverted even the highest judiciary to protect its terrorist proteges, wrote Ghafoor Ahmad in his opinion piece published in Afghanistan Times.

He said Sheikh is not the first terrorist to be set free by Pakistani courts.

"Lashkar-e-Taiba chief and a designated global terrorist, Hafiz Saeed, has been released on several occasions by the high courts for want of evidence. In not one case, the Supreme Court of Pakistan, had found it urgent and necessary to take note of such disregard for rule of law, an indication of how the top judiciary for long been serving the interests of the army. The Supreme Court judges on many occasions have been too eager to ratify military coups in the past," he said.

"Sheikh was one of the three terrorists which India was forced to release in exchange for passengers of an Indian Airlines flight, en route from Kathmandu to New Delhi, hijacked by Pakistani terrorists in December 1999. It is now known that ISI had a hand in the hijacking," the writer wrote.

Ahmad said Sheikh’s acquittal shows to what lengths can the army go to protect its agents of violence and betrays the sham Pakistan’s entire judicial system has become.

He said: "The Biden administration, which has promised to pursue a global counter-terrorism agenda, should take note of Pakistan’s persistent mockery of international concerns and conventions on prosecuting terrorists. Daniel Pearl was an American citizen and its brutal assassination should not go unpunished."

"No less grave is the unassailable reality of Pakistan proving itself to be a truly terrorist-sponsor state," he wrote.