KARACHI, March 20: Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the anti-terrorism court-3 sentenced on Thursday a worker of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement to life imprisonment for kidnapping a 12-year-old boy for ransom.
The Haqiqi worker, Liaquat Hussain alias Nadeem Gadha, along with his accomplice, Nasir alias Boni, took Abid Hussain with them on February 2 this year around 4pm when he was returning home from a nearby religious institution.
They took the boy to a school where another accomplice of theirs, Shafiq, was present. Then the two kidnappers went to the boy’s home and demanded Rs10,000 from his father, Sabir Hussain.
The boy’s father, however, gave them Rs2,000 with the promise that the rest of the money would be arranged soon.
The two accused then took the boy’s father and his elder brother to the school and handed the hostage over to them.
Accuse Liaquat was arrested by the police when the hostage’s father lodged an FIR at the area police station on the insistence of area people. His accomplices, however, remained untraceable and the court declared them absconders.
Liaquat deposed in the court that he had gone to the boy’s home to collect monthly donation for the party on the direction of the party leadership.
Recording his statement before the trial court, the Haqiqi worker also said he had been arrested and implicated in the case as the area people had become hostile to the party as the rival, Muttahida Qaumi Movement, staged a comeback in the locality.
CARBOMB CASE: The anti-terrorism court-1, headed by Judge Aley Maqbool Rizvi, adjourned the hearing of the US consulate carbomb case against the leaders and workers of the banned Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Aalmi after one of the defence counsel moved an application for recalling a prosecution witness.
The self-styled chief of his own Aalmi faction of the banned organization, Mohammed Imran, his deputy, Mohammed Ashraf, and finance secretary, Mohammed Hanif, and workers Sharib and Zubair have been charged with the carbombing that killed 12 people, including five women, and injured 43 others.
The judge, who is holding the trial of the case inside the Central Prison, Karachi, fixed March 22 for the next hearing and issued notice to the prosecution for forwarding arguments on the application of the defence counsel.
Khawaja Naveed Ahmed, counsel for Mohammed Ashraf, prayed to the court to summon Judicial Magistrate Rahmat Ullah Moro.
He submitted that during the cross-examination investigation officer Inspector Dawood Akbar denied to have moved an application to the judicial magistrate for recording the confessional statement of his client.
The defence counsel also attached with his application certified copies of the application moved to the JM for recording Ashraf’s confession. He also placed a certified copy of the order of the judicial magistrate on that application.
The counsel submitted that during the cross-examination the IO had denied to have taken accused Ashraf to the court of the judicial magistrate for recording his confession. He referred to the JM’s order wherein he had written about the production of the accused before him for confession.
