KARACHI, Feb 6: An anti-terrorism court reserved on Monday judgment in the corps commander convoy attack case against 11 activists of the banned Jundullah group. Judge Feroze Mehmood Bhatti of the ATC-2 fixed Feb 21 for pronouncement of the judgement after hearing final arguments from defence and prosecution attorneys.
The prosecution, represented by special public prosecutors Iqtidar Ali Hashmi and Maula Bux Bhatti, prayed the court to award maximum punishment to the accused as the prosecution had successfully proved its case beyond any reasonable shadow of doubt.
Defence counsel M R Syed and Mushtaq Ahmed, however, prayed the court to acquit the defendants as the case was full of contradictions. They submitted that the government had earlier announced that foreigners involved in the attack have been arrested, but later the defendants were charged with the said offence.
They submitted that the case was full of “glaring legal defects”. They called in question the inordinate delay in the registration of FIR.
The defence counsel also disputed the claims of the prosecution regarding the time and place of the Jundullah men. They argued that the prosecution showed the arrest of the accused in “fake encounters” on June 13, 2004, while they were arrested from their houses on June 12, 2004.
The defence counsel contended that the prosecution had failed to produce any injured person as a prosecution witness, while the prosecution witnesses gave contradictory testimonies which could not be relied upon as per rulings laid down by the superior courts.
Ataur Rehman alias Ibrahim, Shahzad Ahmed Bajwah, Yaqoob Saeed, Uzair Ahmed, Shoiab Siddiqui, Danish Inam, Najeebullah, Khurrum Saifullah, Shahzad Mukhtar, Khalid Rao and Adnan 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.
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 gave up rest of the witnesses.
The prosecution witnesses also included eye-witnesses to the attack on the convoy and arrest of some of the Jundullah men.
The driver of the van, which was used in the attack on the convoy, identified Uzair Ahmed, Shahzad Ahmed Bajwah and Najeebullah as snatchers of his vehicle (EE-9255).
According to prosecution, Najeebullah had booked the vehicle from its owner for taking it to Kalri Lake on picnic and he had asked the owner to send the vehicle at a house in Federal B. Area.
Driver Ghulam Rasool stated that he along with conductor Bakhtiar Khan reached the designated address around 6am. However, he said, no one was available at that address and the three accused were standing there.
He said the accused held him and the conductor hostage at gunpoint and accused Uzair started driving the van. He said on their way, accused Najeebullah injected syringe to the conductor and got him off the van a little before Jauhar Chowrangi in Gulishtan-i-Jauhar. He said Najeebullah then administered injection to him and got him off the van a little after Juahar Chowrangi
Another prime witness for the prosecution was rent-a-car dealer Ghulam Abbas, who recognised accused Najeebullah. According to his testimony, Najeebullah came to his office on June 9, 2004, to book a Hiace wagon for picnic at Kalri lake for June 10.
Captain Salman Masood, who was present in the corps commander’s vehicle, identified accused Shahzad Mukhtar as one of the attackers.
Havildar Abdur Rasheed, who was in one of the vehicles escorting corpse commander’s car, also appeared as an eye-witness. He said he saw accused Mohammed Shoaib Siddiqui and Shahzad Mukhtar opening fire on the corps commander’s convoy.
Lance Naik Mohammed Safdar, another member of the corps commander’s motorcade, identified accused Khurrum Saifullah as one of the attackers. Havildar Zafar Abbas, a member of the convoy, also appeared as an eye-witness.
Mohammed Akram, a passer-by, appeared as an eye-witness to the arrest of Ataur Rehman, Shahzad Bajwah, Shoaib and Najeeb. He stated that he was passing through Model Colony graveyard on June 13, 2004, around 5:30pm when he heard gunshots. He said that the police told him that they have arrested four activists after a shootout and they asked him to become a witness of the incident.
Another passer-by, Abdullah, was also produced as a witness to the arrest of the four accused near Model Colony graveyard.
The investigation of the case was conducted under the supervision of DIG, Investigation, Manzoor Mughul.
RANGERS CASE: Judge Feroze Mehmood Bhatti of the ATC-2 reserved judgment in the rangers van attack case against two workers of the banned Jundullah.
Judge Feroze Mehmood Bhatti of ATC-2 fixed Feb 21 for the pronouncement of verdict after hearing final arguments from special public prosecutors Iqtidar Ali Hashmi and Maula Bux Bhatti and defence counsel M R Syed.
Ataur Rehman and Shahzad Ahmed Bajwa have been prosecuted for attacking the rangers’ mobile van on March 19, 2004, under Baloch Colony Bridge. Two ranger personnel were killed and three others were injured in the incident.
The two accused stated that they were arrested by law enforcement agencies on June 12, 2004, while the police had shown their arrest on June 13. They also placed on record the newspaper record to substantiate their claim.
The prosecution examined in all 19 prosecution witnesses, who also included seven eye-witnesses.
The defence counsel argued that his clients be acquitted as the case was full of contradictions. He submitted that the depositions of witnesses were not trustworthy as there were glaring contradictions in their evidences.
