January 5, 2006	Thursday	Zilhaj 4, 1426

KARACHI, Jan 4: The Sindh High Court reserved on Wednesday its order on bail application moved by a former director of Alliance Motors after hearing the arguments of petitioner’s counsel and the NAB deputy prosecutor-general.

Ayaz Younus submitted through Advocate Ismet Mehdi that his father Mohammad Younus had been behind bars for the last three years. He was engaged in the business of import and export and invested a sizable amount in Alliance Motors and its sister concern, T J Ebrahim and Company, on the advice of his spiritual mentor, who was also a ‘pir’ of Asghar Ali Qureshi, the managing director of the two companies. He remained a director of the Alliance Motors for some time in 1987-88 but had nothing to do with its subsequent operations.

The petitioner said his father had not been charged with any specific role in the reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau. The trial was stalled and, in the meanwhile, the principal accused, including Asghar Qureshi, Mohammad Ebrahim and Mohammad Tayyab, had been released on bail. The rule of consistency demands that he should also be enlarged on bail.

NAB deputy prosecutor-general Z A Sherwani submitted that there was evidence on record against the accused, which was to be evaluated by the trial accountability court. The trial was proceeding apace and whatever delay had occurred was due to the defence. A large number of people were cheated by the defunct companies of their savings amounting to Rs 5 billion, the NAB counsel stated.

An SHC division bench, comprising Justices Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Nadeem Azhar Siddiqui, reserved its order on the petition after hearing the arguments.

MURDER CASE: The prosecution in policeman murder trial on Wednesday contended that it had proved its case against Ghulam Qadir Patni for murdering a police constable and injuring another on March 23 last, adds PPI.

An Anti-Terrorism Court was conducting trial against an MQM activist for killing a police constable Mohammad Jehangir Minhas and injuring other policeman Ansar Mehmood on March 23 in Baghdadi. The accused denied the charges.

Special Public Prosecutor Naimat Ali Randhawa submitted two eyewitnesses, including injured policeman who identified the accused committing the offence and their testimonies were trustworthy and could not be rebutted.

He said that official SMG of the deceased policeman was recovered in presence of private Mashir on pointation of the accused.

ATC, headed by Judge Syed Saghir Hussain Zaidi, after hearing arguments fixed Jan 5 for hearing the rebuttal of the SPP.