January 26, 2006	Thursday	Zilhaj 25, 1426

KARACHI, Jan 25: Trial of 11 workers of the banned Jundullah group in corps commander convoy attack case has come to a halt as one of the defence counsel, appointed on state expenses, has not been appearing before the anti-terrorism court since the prosecution concluded its evidence on Dec 7.

Judge Feroze Mehmood Bhatti of the ATC-2 put off hearing for the sixth time on Wednesday for recording statements of defendants after he was told that defence counsel did not come to the court as he was busy in another case before the Sindh High Court.

The judge, who had appointed M R Syed for the defence of 10 accused on the expenses of state, fixed Jan 27 for the next hearing.

Special public prosecutors, Iqtidar Ali Hashmi and Maula Bux Bhatti and Mushtaq Ahmed, defence counsel for one of the accused, were, however, present in the court.

Ata ur Rehman alias Ibrahim, Shahzad Ahmed Bajwah, Yaqoob Saeed, Uzair Ahmed, Shoiab Siddiqui, Danish Inam, Najeebullah, Khurrum Saifullah, Shahzad Mukhtar and Khalid Rao were formally indicted on Sept 23, 2004, for a series of offences, including attack on the motorcade of the then corps commander of Sindh, Lt-Gen Ahsan Saleem Hayat, on June 10, 2004, on the old Clifton bridge, which resulted in the death of six army personnel, three policemen and a passer-by.

The Jundullah men were charged with the offences under Sections 302, 324, 404 and 34 of PPC, Section 7 of the Anti-terrorist Act, 1997, and Section 3, 4 and 5 of the Explosive Act. Adnan Shah alias Tipu, Mohammed Qasim, Maaz, Shahab, Bilal, Tayyeb, Hammad and Fasih have been declared absconders.

The prosecution examined in all 32 out of total 60 prosecution witnesses cited in the charge-sheet. The prosecution witnesses also included eye-witnesses to the attack on the convoy and arrest of some of the Jundullah men.

PRISONERS’ VAN CASE: Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5 put off the hearing of the prisoners’ van firing case against five workers of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi after recording the statement of a prosecution witnesses.

The judge fixed Thursday for the next hearing after the deposition of the first investigation officer, who was also partially cross-examined by the defence counsel.

Special public prosecutor Mazhar Qayyum appeared on behalf of the state and Amir Mansoob Qureshi, M A Warsi and Ashraf Mughul appeared for the accused.

Five workers of the banned sectarian outfit have been charged with killing a constable and an under-trial prisoner during an attack on a prisoners’ van.

Mohammed Faisal alias Faisal Pehalwan, Waseem Sabir, Mazhar Hussain, Mohammed Tassaduq and Muzammil Hussain were charged with attacking the prisoners’s van on Feb 28, 2002, near Bohrapir in the Nabi Bux police limits.

According to the prosecution, the LJ men opened fire on the van which was carrying some under-trial sectarian workers to the Central Prison after producing them in the city courts. Police constable Mohammed Shakil and an under-trial prisoner, Saqib son of Meher Din, were killed in the attack. A dozen other UTPs were also injured in the incident.

RANSOM CASE: An anti-terrorism court put off hearing of a kidnapping for ransom case against three accused after recording the testimony of first prosecution witness.

Judge Syed Saghir Hussain Zaidi of the ATC-3 fixed Jan 27 for the next hearing after special public prosecutor Naimat Ali Randhawa examined victim’s wife as a prosecution witness, who was also cross-examined by defence counsel Fiyyaz Ahmed Abro.

The case pertained to the kidnapping of Zakir Rehman, a grain dealer, and his two sons for ransom, who were released by their captors after payment of Rs3.4 million.

According to prosecution, the trader was going to his home on his bike on Oct 15, 2004, when eight occupants of a Suzuki pick-up intercepted him in Chakiwara and took him away at gunpoint.

Victim’s wife Zakia stated that the kidnappers demanded Rs4 million for the release of her husband.

She said on Oct 25 she along with her two sons, Abdullah, 13, and Haseebur Rehman, 9, met the kidnappers in Chakiwara where she handed over Rs500,000 as part payment of ransom.

She deposed that the kidnappers, however, made her two sons hostage before they released her husband. She said the kidnappers asked her husband to arrange the remaining Rs3.5 million for the release of the children.

She said her husband paid another Rs2.9 million to the kidnappers and got their sons released after another 10 days. She said the kidnappers kept on demanding the remaining Rs600,000 from the trader and threatened him of dire consequences in case of non-payment.

The woman said her husband finally reported the matter to the police, who initially arrested the accused.

The police initially arrested five accused -– Akram alias Shaheen, Gul Hasan Brohi, Abdul Jalil, Abdus Salam and Nadir. However, later the ATC-3 ordered the release of accused Nadir after the police withdrew charges against him under Section 169 of the CrPC.

The police submitted charge-sheet against four accused and showed eight others as absconding accused. The absconders were: Razzaq Commando, Serwer, Shahid, Faiz, Abdul Hameed, Mohammed Rashid, Mohammad Ayub and Khuda Bux.

Later, the ATC-3 acquitted accused Abdus Salam on an application under Section 265-K. The accused submitted before the court that he was already in the judicial custody and was lodged at the District Malir jail on Oct 15, 2004, when the incident occurred.