KARACHI, May 9: An anti-terrorism court put off on Thursday the hearing of a case pertaining to a plot to kill President Pervez Musharraf as the authorities have yet to appoint the prosecutor.

Judge Aley Maqbool Rizvi of the ATC-1, who is conducting the trial inside the Central Prison, Karachi, fixed May 14 for the next hearing of the case after the court was informed that the home department had not yet appointed the prosecutor.

Aalmi chief Mohammed Imran, his deputy Mohammed Hanif, finance secretary Mohammed Ashraf and workers Waseem Akhtar and Sharib have been charged with hatching a conspiracy to blow up the president’s motorcade in the police limits of Airport.

According to the charge sheet, the prosecution has cited nine prosecution witnesses and has shown Habibullah Khattak, Mohammed Jamil, Mohammed Aamir and Kamran as absconders.

Accused Imran, Hanif and Waseem Akhtar, a Rangers inspector, allegedly disclosed to have made an abortive attempt on the life of the president in April last year.

It was alleged that accused Habibullah Khattak, who was given Rs400,000 by the Aalmi leaders, brought explosives and other weapons in a truck from upcountry.

Accused Jamil was allegedly given Rs85,000 to buy a Suzuki pickup, which was loaded with the explosives. The explosive-laden vehicle was parked near a shop at Falak Naz Arcade, and accused Kamran had a remote control device with him to detonate the explosives.

It was alleged that accused Kamran, who had positioned himself at a petrol pump near Star Gate on Sharea Faisal, pushed the remote control button several times, but the vehicle did not blow up.

The accused had allegedly rented out the shop under a fake name and accused Aamir used to sit in it.

It was alleged that the accused Rangers’ official had given the information about the arrival of the president, and accused Mohammed Hanif, Imran, Jamil, Naveed, Aamir and Sharib had positioned themselves near Awami Markaz to ascertain if the president’s motorcade had blown up.

According to the prosecution, the Aalmi leaders, during interrogation, said they wanted to kill President Musharraf for his anti-Taliban and pro-US policies.

Khawaja Naveed appeared for Ashraf, Abdul Waheed Katpur for Hanif, Maqboolur Rahman for Sharib and a junior to Kazi Ashraf appeared for Waseem Akhtar. The counsel for the Aalmi chief did not turn up.

The Aalmi chief and his deputy were on April 14 sentenced to death in another case.