KARACHI, June 9: The provincial government has de-notified the jail trial of activists of the banned Jundullah group in seven different cases, including the corps commander convoy attack case. Sources said the home department of Sindh withdrew on Wednesday the notifications regarding the jail trial of the Jundullah activists. The provincial authorities had earlier notified the jail trial of the accused due to security reasons.
The accused were being tried by Judge Feroze Mehmood Bhatti of the Anti-terrorism Court No. 2 inside the Central prison, Karachi.
The sources said the hearing of the cases against Jundullah men would be held at the ATC-2, located on the Maulvi Tameezuddin Road. The rangers would escort the accused from the jail to the court, they said.
The cases were registered at the police stations of Boat Basin (FIR No. 165/2004), Ferozabad (179/2004, pertaining to attack on a rangers’ mobile), Gulistan-i-Jauhar (44/2004, attack on the police station), Artillery Maidan (2/2004, bomb blast), Darakhshan (83/2004, murder), Model Colony (83/2004, murder) and Frere (7/2004, bomb blast).
Jundhullah men — Ataur Rehman alias Ibrahim, Shahzad Ahmed Bajwah, Yaqoob Saeed, Uzair Ahmed, Shoiab Siddiqui, Danish Inam, Najeebullah, Khurrum Saifullah, Shahzad Mukhtar and Khalid Rao—have been charged with a series of offences, including attack on the motorcade of Lt-Gen Ahsan Saleem Hayat on June 10, last year on the old Clifton bridge, which resulted in the death of six army personnel, three policemen and a passerby.
Meanwhile, the ATC-2 put off the hearing of the rangers mobile attack against two activists of the banned Jundullah after recording the statement of a prosecution witness.
Judge Feroze Mehmood Bhatti fixed June 16 for the next hearing after special public prosecutor Maula Bux Bhatti produced sepoy Sikander of the rangers as an eye-witness.
