KARACHI: Lashkar man identified in sectarian killings
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, March 12: The Afghanistan-born activist of the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, allegedly involved in several sectarian killings, was identified on Tuesday by two sets of witnesses in different cases.
Abdul Wahab alias Jamil alias Khalid, arrested on March 7 following a shootout with police in New Karachi, was first produced in the court of Judicial Magistrate, East, Ayub Bhatti, who conducted his identification parade in the Al-Fallah killing case.
Three eye-witnesses, including Abbas Masood, identified the Lashkar man as one of those who opened fire at the al-Muntazir al Mehdi imambargah on February 22.
Nine people were killed and seven others wounded when two of the three attackers, riding a bike, opened fire at an eating house next to the imambargah.
Later, the police brought the suspected killer to the court of Judicial Magistrate, South, Naseem Akhtar, for identification in the case pertaining to the killing of two Iranians at a bakery.
Three eye-witnesses — Mohammed Ali, Shakir and Kazim — identified the suspect as one of the attackers.
The witnesses also recorded their statements before the two magistrates under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The suspect was given in the police custody for interrogation till March 18 by the administrative judge of ATCs, Justice Shabbir Ahmed of the Sindh High Court.
The 45-year-old Iranian owner of Subhanullah Bakery, Ghulam Hussain, and his 18-year-old nephew had died instantly after being shot from a very close range in their outlet on M. A. Jinnah Road on February 27.
KIDNAPPING FOR RANSOM CASE: A worker of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement (Haqiqi), charged with kidnapping a boy for ransom, deposed on Tuesday that he had gone to the house of the victim to collect monthly donation for the party.
While recording his statement before Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the Anti-Terrorism Court No. 3, accused Liaquat alias Nadeem Gadha, a resident of Korangi, stated that he had been arrested and implicated in the case as the area people had become hostile to the party workers due to the entry of rival Muttahida Qaumi Movement in the vicinity.
According to prosecution, the Haqiqi worker along with his accomplice, Nasir alias Boni, took 12-year-old Abid Hussain with them on February 2 this year around 4pm when the boy was returning to his home from a nearby religious institution.
The accused took the boy to a school where another accomplice, Sahfiq, was present. The two kidnappers left the hostage with Shafiq and reached the house of the victim. They demanded Rs10,000 from the victim’s father Sabir Hussain, who gave them Rs2,000 with the promise that the remaining amount would be arranged shortly.
The two accused allegedly took the victim’s father and his elder brother to the school and handed the hostage over to them.
Accused Liaquat was arrested by the police when the victim’s father lodged the FIR with the police on the insistence of the area people.
Special public prosecutor, Naimat Ali Randhawa, examined in all seven prosecution witnesses, including the victim, his father, his brother and one of their neighbours.
Accused Liaquat stated that he had been collecting donations in the vicinity for the past 10 years on the direction of the party leaders.
The judge fixed March 15 for hearing the final arguments from the prosecution and the defence.
BOMB BLAST CASE: Judge Feroz Mehmood Bhatti of the ATC-2 put off the hearing of a bomb blast case against a worker of the banned Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Aalmi after the deposition of a prosecution witness.
Sabir Waseem, has been charged with launching an anti-tank rocket (BM-107) that had pierced through the wall of the Commerce College on the Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road on November 23, 2001.
According to the bomb disposal squad, the device was an anti-tank rocket, weighing 25 kilograms with 10 to 12 kgs of explosive material.
The judge, who is conducting the trial inside the Central Prison, fixed March 15 for the next hearing after the statement of medico-legal officer, Dr Mohammed Ayub Memon, who had examined the accused.
According to prosecution, accused Waseem and his absconding accomplice, Asif Ramzi, reached near the college to fire the rocket to target Americans staying at the second and third floors of Sheraton Hotel.
It was alleged that the two Aalmi men, carrying the rocket and its locally-made launcher in a kit bag, reached near the hotel on a motorbike around 9:30pm. The two positioned the launcher on the pushcart of a junk vendor. While accused Waseem was still trying to position the launcher to the hotel, the rocket was detonated due to short circuit and hit the wall of the Commerce College. It landed in a classroom making an eight-inch hole in the wall. Accused Sabir Wasim was also injured in the blast.
The accused, who was arrested on April 17 last year during a shootout with the police, disclosed his involvement in the case during the interrogation.
The investigators sent him to the MLO for medical examination.
According to the MLO, the lower body of the accused had scars of burns that were caused by explosive fire.
