KARACHI: Statements recorded in sectarian killing case
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, May 25: An anti-terrorism court put off on Tuesday the hearing of two murders cases against workers of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi after recording the depositions of three prosecution witnesses.
Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5, who is conducting the trial inside the Central Prison, fixed May 27 for the next hearing after the statements of Tasadduq Hussain, an eye-witness, Inspector Faryad Hussain Bhatti and SI Khuda Bux.
One of the cases pertained to the murder of a pesh-imam of an imambargah and his son on September 12, 2001. Two LJ men - Ataullah and Mohammed Azam - have been charged with the sectarian killing.
Syed Razi Haider Najafi, the pesh-imam who was also a teacher in a school, and his 15-year-old son Syed Abbas Ali were killed and his youngest son, Syed Mohammed Ali, was wounded at around 7:45am when the accused, riding a motorcycle, opened fire on their car near the Sub-marine Chowrangi in Gizri.
Special public prosecutor Mazhar Qayyum has so far examined eight prosecution witnesses in the case. Defence counsel M. R. Syed also cross-examined the prosecution witnesses.
The same court put off the hearing of another sectarian murder case after recording the statement of an eye-witness. Ataullah and Riaz are being prosecuted for killing Kazim Hussain Jafferi on March 21, 2002 in an attack on his video shop in Mehmoodabad.
Two others - Fazal Karim and Rizwan Akhtar - were also wounded in the attack. Prosecution witness Tasadduq Hussain, a student of class nine, identified the accused in the court. The PW was also cross-examined by the defence counsel. The judge fixed May 27 for the next hearing and ordered the prosecution to examine the remaining witnesses.
RANSOM CASE: Judge Feroze Mehmood Bhatto of the ATC-2 put off the hearing of a kidnapping for ransom case till May 31 when he would hear the final arguments from the prosecution and defence attorneys.
Nayyar Raza is being prosecuted for the kidnapping of Asif Raza Zaidi in Gulistan-i-Jauhar in November 2003. According to the prosecution, Nayyar with three other accused kidnapped the victim and demanded Rs2.5 million for his release.
Accused Nayyar was arrested after he was tracked down by the Citizen-Police Liaison Committee. The police recovered the victim from a house in Jaffer Tayyar Society on his lead.
One of his accomplices was also killed in the shootout with the police during the raid on their hideout. The dead was identified as Chand. Two other accused - Aun Mohammed alias Ooni and Shakir Ali - had fled. They were declared absconders.
