16 October 2004	Saturday	01 Ramazan 1425

KARACHI, Oct 15: An accused in the Alliance Motors scam was enlarged on bail by the Sindh High Court on Friday against a solvent surety of Rs 1 million.

Saleem Yousuf is a former director of the Alliance Motors and its subsidiaries, Alliance Silk Mills and Alliance Fabrics.

He is accused by the National Accountability Bureau of complicity in depriving depositors and investors of the liquidated TJ Ebrahim and Alliance Motors companies of their lifetime saving, amounting to Rs 3571 million.

He is facing trial before an accountability court, with other accused in the reference. Pleading for bail, his counsel, Advocate Z. K. Jatoi submitted that he was entitled to the concession even if he was proved to be a beneficiary of the swindled deposits.

He had already remained behind bars for two years. NAB deputy prosecutor-general Shaukat H. Zubedi contested the bail plea. A division bench, comprising Justices Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Syed Zawwar Hussain Jaffery, granted bail to the accused in the sum of Rs 1 million.

NOTICE ISSUED: The Sindh High Court issued on Friday notices to the city district government and the nazim of the Saddar town in a petition questioning setting up of a bus stop on a green- belt in a Clifton area.

The petitioner, a commercial bank, maintained that the bus stop, in front of Razi Tower in Block 9, Clifton, had been allowed to be constructed by the respondents in gross violation of the law and rules.

The green belt was not meant to accommodate bus stops, stands and kiosks. If an encroachment was permitted once, the entire belt would be occupied by hawkers and other encroachers.

The petitioner said besides threatening environment, the bus stop affected its business and caused inconvenience to its customers and created traffic hazard for general public.

It requested the court to restrain the respondents, direct them to demolish the bus stop and order restoration of the green belt in the public interest. A division bench, comprising Justices Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Syed Zawwar Hussain Jaffery, issued notices to respondents for Oct 19.

CONVICTION CHALLENGED: Kamran Atif of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, who was sentenced to two life terms besides other sentences on charges of terrorism, encounter with CID police and accidental murder of a passerby woman, preferred appeal before an appellate bench of the Sindh High Court, adds APP.

Ghulam Qadir Jatoi advocate filing the appeal maintained that the police had harboured enmity with the convicted accused/appellant as they failed in keeping him confined behind the bars for his affiliation with the organization, Harkat-ul- Mujahideen.

A head money of three million rupees was announced for his capture, the appeal maintained. There was no encounter as the accused sustained bullet injury in his buttock. Had he been firing towards police officials he must have sustained injury on front side, the appeal says.

The alleged encounter took place at afternoon, but, the police failed in making any area person witness and examined only a chance witness, a milk seller, while all the rest were police officials who were interested witnesses, counsel for the appellant maintained.

The entire prosecution story was concocted to set up appellant/ accused for trial before anti-terrorism court, he maintained praying to the court to set aside the conviction and sentences awarded to Kamran Atif.

The appellant was arrested from Taimuria police jurisdiction allegedly after a brief encounter with CID police. A woman working as a maid caught in the cross fire and died.