KARACHI: ATC acquits two Harkat men in blast cases
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, April 5: An anti-terrorism court acquitted on Tuesday two workers of the banned Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Aalmi in two petrol pump blast cases. Judge Aley Maqbool of the ATC-1 exonerated accused Khalid Mehmood and Sameerullah from charges for want of incriminating evidence. The two were tried for carrying out blasts at two petrol pumps on May 15, 2003 within the limits of the North Nazimabad police.
INDICTED: An anti-terrorism court indicted two accused for keeping six brothers and their sister-in-law hostage.
Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the ATC-3 fixed Wednesday for recording the evidence after accused Aziz Ullah and Mohammed Dawood pleaded “not guilty”.
Five brothers of accused Aziz Ullah – Habib Ullah Hameed Ullah, Naeem Ullah, Ahmed Shah and Rasheed – have been shown absconders.
The accused have been charged with the kidnapping of complainant Mohammed Ashraf’s wife, Sadaf, and his six brothers, Mohammed Salim, Mohammed Naeem, Mohammed Iqbal, Mohammed Pervaiz, Mohammed Akhtar and Mohammed Yousuf in May, last year in Shershah.
The hostages were allegedly kept at Khan Building, Shershah, and the accused allegedly demanded Rs2 million for their release. It was also alleged that the accused received Rs500,000 from Mohammed Naeem, one of the complainant’s brothers, and they also made him hostage after receiving the money.
The two accused were arrested on May 23, 2004, after a shootout with the police. One of the alleged captors, Raheem Ullah, was also killed in the cross-fire.
BAIL REJECTED: The same court (ATC-3) rejected the bail application of two alleged accomplices of Rehman Dakait, who were arrested along with five other accused after a shootout in Kalakot.
The judge dismissed the bail plea of accused Iftikhar Ahmed and Baber and fixed April 11 for formal indictment of the accused.
According to prosecution, a team of the Anti-Violent Crime Cell (AVCC) personnel was posted in Kalakot to suppress the gang war in the vicinity of Lyari on Jan 3 this year. The AVCC received an information about the presence of Rehman Dakait’s gang members on Faqeer Mohammad Dar Road where they were extorting money from people. The accused opened fire on the police party and they also threw two hand-grenades on them. The police also returned the fire and one of the accused, Shahnawaz alias Shani, was killed on spot and accused Nazeer Bullah was injured. Inspector Shaukat Ali Shahani, SHO of Kalakot, and head constable Manszoor Hussain were also injured in the shootout.
The police arrested Iftikhar Ahmed, Khalilur Rehman, Sajjad Ahmed, Fareed, Mohammed Ali, Baber and injured Nazeer Bullah and seized from them unlicensed pistols and hand-grenade from them.
MOSQUE BLAST CASES: Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5 put off the hearing of the Masjid Ali Raza bomb blast case against a worker of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi after recording statements of two medico-legal officers.
The judge fixed April 9 for recording statement of the investigation officer, the last of the 40 prosecution witnesses.
As many as 25 faithful had been killed and 37 others injured on May 31 last year when a suicide bomber blew himself inside the Masjid Ali Raza, located at Old Numaish.
Gul Hasan, arrested on June 13, is stated to have been the mastermind of the two bomb blasts at Haideri Mosque and Imambargah Ali Raza. He is alleged to have planned the attacks with absconding accused that included Asif Chuto and Mufti Obaid.
Special public prosecutor Mazhar Qayyum has closed the prosecution side in the Haidery Mosque blast case.
He examined in all 46 PWs, including the father of the suicide bomber.
