29 October 2004	Friday	14 Ramazan 1425

KARACHI, Oct 28: Judge Feroze Mehmood Bhatti of the Anti- terrorism Court No-2 rejected on Thursday the bail application of the doctor brothers, facing charges of financing, harbouring and treating the activists of the Jundullah group.

Dr Akmal Waheed, a cardiologist, and his younger brother Dr Arshad Waheed, an expert in kidney diseases, have also been charged with sending the Jundullah activists to Wana for terrorist training.

The case was registered by the Gulshan-i-Iqbal police under Sections 201, 211 and 216 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Sections 21-C, 21-J and 11-M of the Anti-terrorism Act.

It was alleged that the two brothers sent Jundullah activists, Shahzad Ahmed Bajwa and Mohammad Qasim to Wana for getting training from Obaidullah, the brother of Nek Mohammed.

The judge in his order observed: "In this case, all the offences applied against the applicants/accused are non-bailable as provided under sub-section (2) of Section 21-D of the Anti- terrorism Act, 1997".

He remarked that the prosecution had brought on record and is in possession of sufficient material in the shape of register of the Shan hospital, receipt book of OPD serial No. 104 and 105, OP No. 6766 and 6769 (dated 19-3-2004), X-ray of terrorist Shehzad Ahmed Bajwa alias Abdullah, record of mobile telephone numbers in the name of accused Dr Akmal Waheed and co-accused Attaur Rahman, identification parade and 164 CrPC statements of the witnesses to prima facie connect the applicants/accused with the commission of the offences with which they are charged with.

The judge also referred to the proviso to sub-section (2) of section 21-D of the ATA, which says that if there appear reasonable ground for believing that any person accused of non- bailable offence has been guilty of an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life or imprisonment for not less than 10 years, such person shall not be released on bail.

The judge further observed: "The clause (c) of sub-section (3) of section 21-D of the ATA says that if an accused, released on bail, would interfere with a witness, otherwise obstruct or attempt to obstruct the course of justice, the court can exercise its discretion against the said accused. In this case, it is apparent from the deposition of Dr Saqib that although the applicants/accused are confined in jail, they through their brother, are influencing witnesses to depose in favour of the accused."

"I see no merit in the instant bail application as such the same is hereby rejected", the judge concluded.

MOSQUE BLAST: An anti-terrorism put off on Thursday the hearing of the Haideri Mosque bomb blast cast against a worker of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi after recording the statements of three injured victims of the blast.

Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5 fixed Nov 1 for the next hearing after special public prosecutor Mazhar Qayyum examined Inayat Ali, Ahsan Naqvi and Mohammad Raza as prosecution witnesses.

The three witnesses stated that they fell unconscious immediately after the blast. They said they were shifted to the Civil Hospital when they regained consciousness.

As many as 26 people were killed and 98 others were injured on May 7 when a suicide bomber blew himself inside the Haideri mosque on the premises of the Sindh Madressah.

Accused Gul Hasan, the alleged mastermind of the blasts, was arrested on June 13 in Mithadar. He is stated to have planned the attacks with absconding accused who included Asif Chuto and Mufti Obaid.