KARACHI, June 22: Four police guards assigned to as many as three Sunni leaders and sitting or standing near stage at the Nishtar Park on April 11 testified on Thursday but said little that was not already known about the incident.
A bang, a flash, a pall of smoke and dust, followed by a hue and cry of people within a short span was the sequence in which the occurrence of a massive blast that killed 52 people, was described by constables Noor Mohammad, Khalilur Rehman and Meehal Khan Khashkheli, guards of Maulana Abbas Qadri, Maulana Iftikhar Bhatti and Maulana Akram Qadri, who were all killed in the explosion. Head constable Akbar Ali Khan, Shah Sirajul Haq’s guard who also attended on his father, Shah Turabul Haq, the chief organizer of the Eid-i-Milad function, was examined at some length by the inquiry tribunal, which consists of Justice Rahmat Hussain Jafferi of the Sindh High Court.
They said there were no private guards, armed or unarmed, with the processionists.
Mohammad Hussain Lakhani, who took control of the stage on behalf of the organizers at 2 pm on April 11, failed to appear on Thursday. Additional Advocate-General Sarwar Khan informed the tribunal that Mr Lakhani was served the process on Wednesday evening but has not appeared. The tribunal asked the AAG to bring the process server’s statement on record. Media men present in the park at the time of the blast, including those who received injuries, would be examined on Friday, followed by other injured victims and the complainant, Altaf Ahmed Qadri, who lodged the FIR of the incident. The tribunal was surprised to see that statements of many witnesses had been recorded by investigators as late as June 12.
Inspector Mohammad Iqbal of the bomb disposal unit was recalled at the end of Thursday’s proceedings. He produced a sketch showing the direction of the pellets discharged by the explosive device from a distance of 27 feet from the stage. “In front of the stage on both sides”, he said when the tribunal inquired about the position of the fallen loudspeakers to ascertain from which direction the shock impacted on the stage. Clothes may be burnt or torn by the blast or the pellets but could never be removed or flown off the bodies of the victims, he replied to a question pointedly asked by the tribunal. People standing as far away as 20 feet from the blast may have their clothes torn but there was no question of clothes ‘flying off’, he said. He produced a copy of the FIR registered by the Civil Lines police station of the detection of a live bomb found in front of the commissioner’s office and defused by him in 2001.
All four guards said they were intercepted by volunteers of the organizers and were allowed in the park only on the intervention of their leaders. They were not allowed to accompany the leaders at the stage and sat on a mat spread behind the stage. Constable Noor Mohammad said he entered the park with Maulana Abbas Qadri about 6-30 pm. There was a sudden bang shortly after azaan for Maghreb prayers. He rushed to the front of the stage and saw the Maulana being carried to his car by volunteers. Maulana Iftikhar Bhatti was also brought to the vehicle by volunteers. He could not say whether the two were then dead or alive but their clothes were bloodstained. He was not allowed to help or sit in the car and people started pelting stones after the car had left. He followed the car but later fled the scene and rushed to the Soldier Bazaar police station.
Constable Khalilur Rehman, Maulana Bhatti’s police guard, said Maulana’s Abbas Qadri, Akram Qadri and Iftikhar Bhatti led the procession from the Ahle Sunnat markaz near Civil Hospital and entered Nishtar Park through a small gate. As he sat on a mat behind, an explosion occurred five minutes after the Maghreb Azaan and the stage was engulfed by smoke. Some people thought that the electricity transformer in the park had exploded. He was pushed aside as he tried to help put Maulana Bhatti’s body in Maulana Abbas Qadri’s car.
Constable Kashkheli, Maulana Akram Qadri’s guard, said the stage was exclusively controlled by volunteers wearing badges of various parties. He entered the park with Maulana Akram through the main gate and allowed in on his intervention. There were a total of 15 or 16 guards sitting on the mat behind the stage. He rushed to the front of the stage but could not find Maulana Akram in the tumult that followed. He took shelter in a nearby blood bank and then rushed to the police station. Rangers, he said, were present till then.
Head constable Akbar Khan said he had been performing guard duty for Shah Sirajul Haq for the last six years but also accompanied his father, Shah Turabul Haq, whenever he so desired. The main procession was delayed by another rally at Memon Masjid. He entered the park about 6-30 pm and stood on the ground with his back to the stage. Shah Turab descended the stage after Azaan to lead prayers on the ground. Shah Siraj remained on the stage along with his two small sons. The blast occurred during the second Rakaat of the Maghreb prayers. He was standing at a distance of about 15 yards from the stage.
The blast, he said, occurred about eight feet from the centre of the stage. He was not hit or bruised by pellet and did not receive even a jolt. However, his hearing remained impaired for about seven minutes. Shah Turab continued leading prayers and he went to the stage. Shah Siraj had come down along with his sons. All three were unhurt. They spotted Shah Turab, who had ended his prayers on the ground. They all went to the Liaquat National Hospital to see the injured. From the hospital they went to Darul Uloom Amjadia. Shah Siraj and his sons went to their house in the vicinity while he accompanied Shah Turab to Gulshan-i-Iqbal for funeral prayers of one of the victims. From Gulshan, he accompanied Shah Turab to Kharadar to condole another victim’s death and arrange his funeral prayers.
The witness could not explain why he failed to volunteer his evidence as an important eye-witness to the incident. He said he received a call from the headquarters of his company to record his statement to DSP Raza Hussain Shah on June 12. The tribunal also pointed out that Akbar Khan’s name was not mentioned in the list of guards furnished by DSP. The AAG said Akbar and constable Ghulam Mustafa were assigned to Shah Sirajul Haq and Shah Turabul Haq, respectively, and the confusion might have been caused by a typographical error.
