KARACHI: Lashkar man re-arrested after escape from prison
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Nov 25: A worker of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, being tried with Akram Lahori and two others in several cases of sectarian killings inside the jail, was re-arrested on Monday minutes after his escape from the prison.
Eyewitnesses said the policeman in whose hand was one end of the chain to which the handcuffed undertrial prisoner (UTP) was chained, was taken aback when the accused all of a sudden got himself released and ran to the outer wall of the Central Prison, Karachi.
They said Ataullah, with Akram Lahori, Tassaduq and Azam, was produced before Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the anti-terrorism court No 3, who is holding the trial in a recently-established courtroom inside the juvenile jail on the premises of the century-old prison.
The witnesses said as the four accused, three of them chained together, came out of the gate of the juvenile jail, Ataullah, who was chained to constable Ahmed Khan, fled by scaling the wall.
They said the guard fired some shots to foil the attempt of the UTP, who after scaling down the jail wall managed to flee, riding on the pillion of a motorcycle that was passing by.
The jail superintendent, however, told Dawn that the UTP, who attempted to escape from the jail, was apprehended on the premises of the prison.
Insiders at the jail told Dawn that a constable of PIB police station, Abdul Ghaffar, the gunman of the ATC judge, constable Zaheer Ahmed Tanoli, and constable Syed Rehan of the juvenile jail apprehended the runaway UTP nearly half a kilometre from the jail. They said the three constables chased the fleeing man on Ghaffar’s motorcycle.
They took the handcuffed UTP to PIB police station, where he was booked for jailbreak. Police also booked and arrested sub-inspector Hakim Ali and constable Ahmed Khan for alleged negligence on their part in the performance of duty.
SHO Adnan Shahid said Ataullah was later sent to the Central Prison as they could not take the risk of lodging him in police lockup.
Insiders at the jail told Dawn that the accused were brought to the courtroom in an armoured personnel carrier (APC), which used to be parked just in front of the gate of the juvenile jail. However, they said, on Monday the APC was parked some 25 yards away from the main gate.
They said the handcuffed accused smoothly and swiftly managed to climb the wall with the jail guards watching as silent spectators.
The prison authorities said a committee had been set up to look into the matter.
The provincial government had notified on Aug 13 jail trial of the accused in sectarian and terrorism cases.
The authorities issued as many as seven notifications for the sitting of anti-terrorism courts on the premises of the Central Prison, Karachi, for conducting the trial of more than 40 cases, including the one pertaining to the conspiracy to kill President General Pervaiz Musharraf.
According to the provincial authorities, the decision to hold jail trial of the sectarian parties’ activists was taken in view of security threats.
Mohammed Ajmal alias Akram Lahori, the self-styled chief of the Lashkar-i- Jhangvi, and three others, including Ataullah, is involved in as many as 26 sectarian murder cases.
Police have so far submitted final chargesheets in only about 20 cases against workers of the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi. These cases pertained to the murder of Dr Mohammed Raza Pirani on June 6 last year in the police limits of Soldier Bazaar, Syed Mushtaq Haider on July 20 last year (Brigade), Syed Jawad Hussain on Jan 29 this year (Darkhshan), Sadiq Ali Hamsheri on Feb 3 (Kharadar), Ramzan Ali on Feb 11 (Saddar), Dr Aley Safdar Zaidi on March 4 (Gizri), Anver Ali Tirmizi and Zulfiqar Haider on March 11 (Shah Faisal Colony), Constable Faiz on March 11 (Korangi Industrial Area), Mohammed Nazir on April 9 (North Nazimabad) and Zafar Mehdi and two others on May 6 (Al-Falah).
Mohammed Azam alias Sharif, son of Jan Mohammed, and Ataullah alias Atta Qasim, son of Mohammed Hashim, are co-accused with Lahori in as many as 24 murder cases.
The fourth worker of the Lashkar, Tassaduq Hussain alias Shaikh, son of Hashmat Ullah, is involved in 14 murder cases.
Earlier, the accused were produced in the court. When asked whether they had engaged a counsel as asked by the court on the previous date of hearing, the accused replied in the negative, adds APP.
