KARACHI, May 13: The Sindh High Court on Friday adjourned to May 27 the hearing of an appeal filed by Ahmed Omer Saeed Sheikh and others against their conviction in the kidnapping and killing case of US journalist Daniel Pearl.
Defence counsel Abdul Waheed Katpar said that the matter could not proceed on Friday due to the non-availability of one of the judges in the division bench.
The main accused, Ahmed Omer Sheikh, was sentenced to death in the case while three co-accused, Fahad Naseem, Syed Salman Saqib and Sheikh Mohammad Adil, were awarded life term and a fine of Rs500,000 each by the Anti-terrorism Court (ATC), Hyderabad, on July 15, 2002. The court had also ordered the accused to pay Rs2 million to the victim’s widow, Mariane Pearl.
MISSING ACTIVIST: The Sindh High Court on Friday, repeating notices to law officers of the federal and provincial governments, directed them to ascertain whereabouts of Baloch Alliance activist, Imdad Baloch, and seven others, and submit their comments on May 27.
Mir Noor Jan moved SHC seeking whereabouts of his son Imdad Baloch, a student of Bolan Medical College, Quetta, who, according to the petitioner, was allegedly taken away by law enforcement agencies’ personnel along with seven others on March 26 from an apartment in Gulistan-i-Jauhar.
Defence counsel Abdul Hafeez Lakho maintained that Imdad Baloch and other party activists, agitating against the military operation in Balochistan, particularly in Dera Bugti, were attending a party meeting when police raided the flat and took them away.
The SHC division bench, comprising Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Justice Mohammad Sadiq Leghari, after issuing the directives adjourned the hearing.
The same court put off hearing of a petition till May 27 against the detention of Abdul Qadir, the elder brother of a convicted Al-Qaeda leader Yousuf Ramzi, due to non-appearance of the defence counsel.
The petitioner, Zainab Bibi, has submitted that her spouse, Abdul Qadir, was arrested on Nov 12 from their house in Malir and his whereabouts was still not known. She said he had been arrested earlier also, but released later on.
DEPARTMENTAL ACTION: The Sindh High Court on Friday issued pre-admission notice to the advocate general, Sindh, and DIG (administration) for May 20 on a petition seeking departmental action against a police constable.
Ghulam Mustufa, an SI in the Bomb Disposal Unit, has submitted that police did not take any legal action against the constable, Riyasat Ali, who, according to the petitioner, had entered police service on bogus documents.
The division bench comprising Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany and Justice Mohammad Sadiq Leghari, after preliminary hearing, issued notice to respondents and sought their comments.
