KARACHI: Carbombing case trial postponed for 9th time
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Oct 21: The June 14 US consulate carbombing case, that left 12 people dead and 43 injured, did not proceed on Monday for the ninth consecutive time as no space was available in the Central Prison, Karachi, for the trial court.
Judge Aley Maqbool Rizvi of the anti-terrorism court No 1 left the prison after waiting for well over 45 minutes to set up his court in the prison’s only courtroom, where another ATC judge was holding the trial of a group of sectarian activists.
The judge issued showcause notices to the home secretary and the jail superintendent for their failure to make arrangements for the setting up of a court on the premises of the prison.
Abdul Wahid Katpar and Raza Ali Abidi, the counsel for the defendants - Mohammed Imran, self-styled chief of his own Aalmi faction of the Harkatul Mujahideen, Mohammed Ashraf, deputy chief, Mohammed Hanif, finance secretary, and two other workers, Sharib Farooqui and Zubair Mufti - later arrived at the ATC-2, which fixed Oct 26 for the next hearing of the case.
The advocate-general of Sindh, Raja Qureshi, who has been appointed special public prosecutor by the home department, also did not turn up once again.
There has been no proceedings of the trial since Aug 24, when the judge recorded the statement of the first prosecution witness.
On Aug 19, the court had declared six Aalmi workers - Sharib son of Shamim Ahmed, Kamran son of Abdus Salam, Mohammed Jameel son of Mohammed Usman, Naveed Hasan son of Colonel Waheed, Habibullah Khattak son of Imanullah Khattak, and Mustafa, a resident of Naval Colony - absconders.
Trial of the three arrested leaders of the Aalmi began on Aug 21 when the judge formally indicted them in the case.
However, later police arrested two absconders - Sharib and Zubair - and submitted a supplementary chargesheet against the two and sent them up for trial.
Following the arrest of two absconders now the court is to formally indict all the accused afresh.
However, under the law the court can frame formal charges on the defendants seven days after the prosecution supplies the two accused, who were arrested later, with the copies of certain documents, including the FIR and chargesheet (challan).
The leaders and workers of the Aalmi are facing the charges under sections 302, 324,427 and 109 of the PPC, sections 3/4 of the Explosive Act and section 7-B of the Anti-terrorism Act.
The Civil Lines police have cited as many as 52 prosecution witnesses in the case.
Police had submitted the final chargesheet in the case on Aug 3 before the administrative judge of the ATCs, Justice Shabbir Ahmed.
The provincial authorities notified on Aug 13 the jail trial of the workers of the banned Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Aalmi and the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, involved in more than 40 cases.
BOMB BLAST CASES: Judge Feroze Mehmood Bhatti, of the anti- terrorism court No 2, formally indicted the deputy chief of the Aalmi, Mohammed Hanif, in a bomb blast case.
The banned religious party leader, however, pleaded “not guilty,” and preferred to be tried.
The case pertained to a bomb blast on Jan 1 this year in the parking lot of Marina Club in the police limits of Gizri. Nine people were injured and 11 vehicles were damaged in the bomb explosion.
The judge fixed Oct 24 for the next hearing of the case and issued notice to special public prosecutor Mazhar Qayyum to produce the prosecution witnesses in the court for their depositions.
The judge also issued notice to the public prosecutor to make arguments on an application filed by Abdul Wahid Katpar, counsel for the Aalmi chief in another bomb blast case in Darkhshan. Hanif is co-accused in the case.
The bomb explosion had occurred in a dustbin in the police limits of Darkhshan.
The defence counsel challenged the jurisdiction of the ATC for trying the case on the grounds that no one was injured nor any property was destroyed in the blast.
Mohammed Imran of the Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Aalmi, the prime suspect in the US consulate bombing case, is facing trial in six cases, five of them pertaining to bomb blasts.
Judge Rizvi of the ATC-1 is also holding the trial of the US carbombing case and attempt on the president’s life case against the Al-Aalmi leaders inside the jail.
