KARACHI, March 1: An anti-terrorism court adjourned on Tuesday hearing of the case pertaining to a plot to kill President Parvez Musharraf against a worker of the banned Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Aalmi after recording the statement of the accused.

The ATC-1, which earlier convicted three top leaders of the banned outfit in the instant case, fixed March 13 for the next hearing after the deposition of accused Naveedul Hassan, who was earlier declared an absconder in the case.

He has been charged with hatching a conspiracy to blow up the president’s motorcade in April 2003 within the limits of the Airport police under Section 120-B and Section 7 of the Anti-terrorist Act.

Denying the charges, the Harkat man stated that he was arrested on Nov 15, 2004, in Lahore, while the police had shown his arrest on Nov 28. He said that the interior minister also mentioned his arrest in an interview on Nov 17 on a TV channel.

The accused requested the court to summon the interior minister as defence witness. The court, however, did not grant his request, but summoned the news director of the private TV channel on the next date of the hearing.

It was alleged that a Suzuki pick-up, laden with explosives, was parked near a shop at the Falak Naz Arcade on the Sharea Faisal and absconding accused Kamran had the remote control to blow up the explosives.