KARACHI, Jan 6: The prosecution of the accused in the sectarian and terrorism cases, including the US consulate carbombing case, is likely to cost millions of additional funds to the government. The amount is to be paid to specially-appointed prosecutors as professional fees.

Sources in the provincial law department told Dawn that the appointment of the special prosecutors for the trial of the chief and two other leaders of the banned Harkatul Mujahideen Aalmi in the US carbombing case had been notified on Dec 28.

According to the notification, Advocate-General Anwer Mansoor Khan would be paid Rs200,000, and assistant AG Habib Ahmed Rs100,000. Two special public prosecutors, Maula Bux Bhatti and Abdul Waheed Khan, would be paid Rs50,000 each.

The trial of the case against the self-styled chief of his own Aalmi faction of the banned organization, Mohammed Imran, his deputy, Mohammed Ashraf, and finance secretary Mohammed Hanif are being held on the premises of the Central Prison, Karachi, by Judge Aley Maqbool Rizvi of the anti-terrorism court No 1.

The three accused were indicted on Aug 21 last year and they were charged with their involvement in the US consulate carbombing that had killed 12 people, including five women, and injured 43 others. They are facing the charges under sections 302, 324,427 and 109 of PPC, section 3/4 of the Explosive Act and section 7-B of the Anti-terrorism Act.

The Civil Lines police cited as many as 50 prosecution witnesses in the case.

The provincial government on Aug 13 last year notified the jail trial of all the cases against the three workers of the Harkatul Mujahideen Aalmi.

The Sindh home department authorities had issued the notifications for the sitting of anti-terrorism courts on the premises of the Central Prison, Karachi, to conduct the trial of more than 40 cases, including one pertaining to the conspiracy to kill President General Pervaiz Musharraf.

Six cases against Mohammed Imran of the Harkatul Mujahideen Aalmi, the prime suspect in the US consulate bombing case, was notified to be conducted inside the jail by the provincial authorities. Five cases against him pertained to bomb blasts.

Mohammed Hanif, another worker of the Aalmi, is a co-accused with Imran in at least five cases. He was also booked for plotting to bomb the car carrying President Musharraf.

The hearing of the case is fixed for Tuesday.

At present there are two courtrooms on the premises of the Central Prison. One of the courtrooms has been set up inside the prison, and the other in the Juvenile Jail on the premises of the century-old penitentiary, where the accused have been lodged.

According to legal experts, the leaders of the Aalmi were not being tried inside the jail in accordance with the notification as the courtroom was situated outside the prison where the accused have been lodged.

The three accused in the case are brought to the courtroom at the Juvenile Jail in an armoured personnel carrier from the barrack in the Central Prison.

Besides the ATC-1, Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5 is also conducting the trial of four workers of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi in the courtroom at the Juvenile Jail.

On Tuesday last, Judge Baloch had put off the hearing of six cases against the Lashkar men as the courtroom was already occupied by another ATC judge.

A worker of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, being tried along with Akram Lahori and two others in several sectarian murders inside the jail, had escaped from the jail on Nov 25 last year. He was, however, rearrested dramatically minutes after his escape.

A constable of PIB police station, the gunman of the ATC judge, and a constable Syed of the Juvenile Jail, caught the runaway UTP nearly half a kilometre from the jail.

CASE AGAINST LAHORI: The ATC-4, headed by Judge Khan Pervaiz Chang, adjourned to Tuesday the hearing of Shaukat Mirza murder case against Akram Lahori, chief of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, and two others after recording the statements of three prosecution witnesses.