KARACHI: Lahori, two others identified in murder case
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, April 15: An eyewitness identified on Tuesday the chief of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Akram Lahori, and his two alleged associates as killers in a double-murder case in an anti-terrorism court.
Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5, who is conducting the trial inside the Central Prison Karachi, fixed April 18 for recording the statement of the investigation.
The case against Lahori and co-accused Ataullah and Mohammed Azam pertained to the killing of Anver Tirmizi and Zufiqar Haider in an attack on March 11 last year in the police limits of Shah Faisal.
Special public prosecutor Syed Nadeem Husain Shah examined Hasan Raza as prosecution witness, who was also cross-examined by defence counsel M. R. Syed.
The eyewitness deposed that he, along with other area people, including the two victims, was scheduled to attend a meeting in connection with religious gatherings during Muharram.
He stated he, along with Manzoor Husain, another eyewitness, was waiting for Anver Tirmizi in front of the victim’s house.
The PW said he saw victim Zulfiqar going to Anver’s house. He said Anver’s brother opened the door for Zulfiqar. After a little while Anver came out and as he stood with his friend, the three attackers appeared there on a motorcycle.
He said Akram Lahori remained sitting on the motorcycle and the pillion- riders, Ataullah and Azam, got down.
The PW stated that Ataullah was carrying an AK-47 rifle and Azam a TT pistol. He said the two armed men opened fire on the victims.
He stated that Lahori, armed with a TT pistol, got down from the motorcycle and opened fire when victim Zulfiqar attempted to run away.
He said the three attackers fled the scene and he, along with area people, shifted the victims to a hospital.
Hasan Raza was the third eyewitness in the case.
FIRING CASE: Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5 fixed April 26 for the formal indictment of the accused in the police camp firing case at the request of the defence counsel.
The accused, charged with the killing of two police officials at a police picket next to the US consulate, is being represented by Raza Ali Abidi.
According to the prosecution, Zulfiqar Ali snatched the rifle of a constable after shooting and wounding him near a lavatory at Frere Hall, took the rifle of the injured constable, walked towards the police picket and opened fire.
Sub-inspectors Ameer Badshah and Murtaza died on the spot and five others, three of them constables and a rangers personnel, were injured when the alleged attacker opened fire on their picket with the rifle he had snatched from his first victim.
KILLING CASE: Judge Feroz Mahmood Bhatti of the ATC-2 had to put off the hearing of the Frenchmen killing case as there was no courtroom available for him in the jail on Tuesday.
The judge, who is conducting the trial inside the jail, fixed Wednesday for the next hearing after waiting till 3pm to have the only courtroom in jail, which was first occupied by Judge Aley Maqbool Rizvi of the ATC-1, and then by an additional district and sessions judge.
Mohammed Asif Zaheer and Rizwanullah, who were allegedly trained in a camp of the Harkat Jihad-i-Islami in Afghanistan, are facing the charges of killing 11 French naval engineers and two Pakistanis in a suicide bomb attack last year near Sheraton Hotel.
According to special public prosecutor Mazhar Qayyum, seven prosecution witnesses were present to record their statements before the court.
The judge adjourned till Wednesday the hearing of a bomb blast case against an activist of the Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Aalmi due to non-availability of courtroom.
Sabir Waseem has been charged with launching an anti-tank rocket (BM-107) that had pierced through the wall of Commerce College on Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road on November 23, 2001.
Waseem was arrested red-handed on February 28, 2002 during a shootout with the police following an attack on a prisoners’ van, which was carrying, among others, Dilawar Hussain, a worker of the banned Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP).
