KARACHI, April 23: The prosecution prayed on Saturday to an anti-terrorism court to award capital punishment to an accused for keeping his own sister and her husband’s five brothers hostage for ransom. Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the ATC-3 fixed April 28 for pronouncement of the judgment after he heard final arguments from prosecution and defence attorneys.
Aziz Ullah, with his elderly father-in-law Mohammad Dawood, has been prosecuted for kidnapping complainant Mohammed Ashraf’s five brothers and his wife, Fatima, for ransom.
Five brothers of accused Aziz Ullah - Habib Ullah Hameed Ullah, Naeem Ullah, Ahmed Shah and Rasheed – are absconders in the case.
The accused have been charged with the kidnapping of their own sister, the wife of complainant, Mohammed Ashraf, 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.
Aziz Ullah and his father-in-law were arrested on May 23, 2004.
Special Public Prosecutor Naimat Ali Randhawa pleaded the court to award maximum punishment to both the accused as prosecution proved its case.
Defence counsel Ghulam Mustufa Memon, however, prayed the court to release the accused persons as neither the hostage-taking took place, nor were their relatives kept in custody.
MOSQUE BLAST CASES: Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5 put off hearing of the Masjid Ali Raza bomb blast case and Masjid Haideri bomb blast case against a worker of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi.
The judge fixed April 25 for the next hearing as defence counsel moved an application seeking adjournment of the the hearing.
A junior to defence counsel Mushtaq Ahmed placed the application before the court stating that the defence counsel could not appear before the court as he was out of Karachi.
As many as 25 faithful were killed and 37 others injured on May 31 last year when a suicide bomber blew himself inside the Masjid Ali Raza, located at the 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 Chutho and Mufti Obaid.
