20 January 2005	Thursday	09 Zilhaj 1425

KARACHI, Jan 19: Two more defence witnesses were examined here on Wednesday by Feroz Mehmood Bhatti, judge Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC-II) for Karachi division, in a case against Dr Akaml Waheed and Dr Arshad Waheed.

Dr Misbahul Aziz, President, Pakistan Islamic Medical Association and Dr Sohail Akhtar of Baqai Medical University, were examined by M Ilyas Khan, defence counsel, while special public prosecutor cross-examined the defence witnesses.

The court later put off further hearing till Jan 25 when more defence witnesses will be examined. The accused were booked by the Gulshan-i-Iqbal police under Section 201, 212, 216 of PPC and Section 11 (N), 21 (C), (J) of the ATC act 1997, accusing them of harbouring, treating terrorists injured in different terrorist attacks, being members of terrorist organization, namely "Jundullah", offering financial support to them, etc. If proved, all charges carry capital punishment.

KIDNAPPING CASE: An Anti-Terrorism Court in Karachi reserved judgment in a kidnapping for ransom case against seven kidnappers after hearing arguments from both sides.

Abdul Kaleem, Arshad Parvez, Mohammad Siddiq, Fateh Mohammad, Syed Bilal, Mohammad Hasan and Ali Ahmed are facing charges of kidnapping Karman for ransom from Shah Faisal Colony in May. The abductee was kept in the confinement of kidnappers for 17 days who later released him after getting ransom of Rs0.5 million.

Special Public Prosecutor Naimat Ali Randhawa sought punishment for kidnappers, submitting that the prosecution had proved its case beyond any shadow of doubt. He stated that the ransom money of Rs100,000 was also recovered from one of the kidnappers which he could not deny before the court.

Defence counsel Asma Khalid and Dur Mohammad opposed the prosecution case and submitted that the benefit of doubt should be given to their clients and they may be released from prosecution charges. ATC Judge Arshad Noor Khan, after hearing the concluding arguments from both sides, reserved verdict for Jan 25 for announcement. - PPI