KARACHI: Prosecution witnesses depose in US diplomat killing case
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Oct 13: An anti-terrorism court put off hearing of the US diplomat killing case against two activists of the Al Qaeda after recording the deposition of two prosecution witnesses.
Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5 fixed Oct 16 for the next hearing after statements of sub-inspector Farooq Umer and constable Manzoor Ahmed.
Two Al Qaeda activists are being tried for masterminding suicide car bombing to kill US diplomat. Ilyas Khan, counsel for accused Anwarul Haq, cross-examined the two prosecution witnesses, while Mustaq Ahmed, counsel for Usman Ghani, sought time for cross-examination of the witnesses.
SI Farooq Umer deposed that he was the then SHO of Artillery Maidan. He said he was patrolling the area when he heard a big bang around 9:05am. He said he immediately rushed to the site of blast where he found three people dead and over 50 injured.
He said the registration numbers of 36 damaged vehicles were intact, while few vehicles were completely destroyed. The prosecution witnesses said he prepared a statement of facts and sent it to the police station for the registration of FIR. The police official said later he supervised the shifting of the deceased and injured to the hospitals.
PW constable Manzoor submitted that he was with the then SHO during patrol. He said he also reached the spot with the SHO, who later gave him the statement of facts to take it to the police station for the registration of the case.
Four people were killed on March 2 this year when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into the diplomat’s vehicle yards away from the US consulate-general.
The blast that took place in a narrow lane between the five-star Marriott Hotel and Naval Surgery Hospital also left over 50 others wounded.
US Consulate official David Foy, his Pakistani driver Iftikhar and Lance Naik Zafar of Rangers were killed instantly.
The body of the suicide bomber, later identified as Mohammed Tahir, was also torn into pieces.
According to investigators, the explosive-laden car was parked outside the naval establishment, and when the convoy, carrying the US official appeared, the bomber rammed his vehicle into the bullet-proof car. The vehicle flew up into the air before landing across a concrete barrier on the pavement of Marriot.
Investigation of the case was assigned to Inspector Tariq who got a clue about the identity of the suicide bomber in August.
According to the charge-sheet, Mohammed Tahir son of Raja Afzal had left his Landhi house on March 2 after Fajr prayers and later his family was informed of his martyrdom.
On Aug 15, the investigation officer visited the house of the suicide bomber and recorded the statement of his father.
Raja Afzal told the investigator that his son had gone to Afghanistan for Jihad thrice and had also been imprisoned in Afghanistan. The father of the suicide bomber told the IO that a man visited his house thrice after the disappearance of his son and gave him Rs5,000, Rs8,000 and Rs10,000 during his three visits.
Raja Afzal also told the investigator that the same man contacted his another son, Idrees, who is a student at Binori Town Madrassah in July to tell him that Tahir had martyred.
On Aug 18, the investigation officer recorded the statement of Idrees, who also supported the statement of his father.
The brother of the suicide bomber told the IO that he knew one of his brother’s friends, Usman, who had brought his letter to the family from Afghanistan during his detention there.
