KARACHI, Jan 10: An anti-terrorism court put off on Wednesday the hearing of the Madinatul Ilm mosque bomb blast case after recording the statement of a prosecution witness.
Judge Saghir Hussain Zaidi of the ATC-3 fixed Thursday for the next hearing after special public prosecutor Mazhar Qayyum examined Mohammed Ramzan, the tapedar who had prepared the sketch of the blast site.
Defence counsel Mushtaq Ahmed and Aamir Mansoob Qureshi also cross-examined the prosecution witness.
Mohammad Tehseen alias Arshad and Mohammad Altaf alias Mufti are being tried for their alleged involvement in the suicide bombing at Imambargah in Gulshan-i-Iqbal which left three persons, including a police head constable, dead and more than 22 others wounded on May 30, 2005.
Asif was killed by police when he came with other co-accused for attacking the Imambargah while the alleged suicide bomber managed to enter the Imambargah and blew himself up.
Tehseen alias Arshad was one of the attackers, arrested by the police in an injured condition after a shootout on May 30.
During interrogation, he gave information about his accomplice Altaf, who was arrested in Gulistan-i-Jauhar.
The case was registered against the accused at the Gulshan-i-Iqbal police station under Section 302, 324, 353, 427/34 of Pakistan Penal Code with Section 3, 5 of Explosive Substance Act, read with Section 7b, 6 of Anti-Terrorism Act.
MURDER CASE: Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5 put off the hearing of a sectarian murder case against the chief of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and two others as the defence counsel did not turn up.
The judge, who is conducting the trial inside the Central Prison, fixed January 13 for the next hearing when he would record the statements of the accused.
LJ chief Akram Lahori and his two alleged associates, Mohammed Azam and Ataullah, represented by M. R. Syed, have been charged with the killing of the owner and an employee of a juice centre on May 25, 2002, in Rizvia Society.
The trial against the LJ men re-started after a pause of over three years as Akram Lahori was shifted to Punjab in November 2003 in connection with other cases pending against him. He was brought back to Karachi a couple of weeks ago.
Earlier on November 5, 2003 the court had recorded the statement of the 16th prosecution witness, Naib Hussain, who had identified the three accused during an identification parade before a judicial magistrate and as well as in the trial court.
According to the eye-witness, he was having juice at the Agha Juice Centre in the evening when the three accused came on a motorbike. He submitted that Lahori and Ata alighted from the bike and opened fire on Agha Abbas, the 70-year-old owner of the oldest juice centre in the city.
PIDC BLAST: Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5 put off the hearing of the PIDC House bomb blast case till January 24 as the defence counsel M.R. Syed did not turn up.
The judge, who is conducting the trial inside the Central Prison, would formally arraigned accused Mangla Khan and Aziz Khan in the case on the next hearing.
Barham Dakh, the grandson of the Baloch leader Akbar Bugti, and Abdul Jabbar have been shown absconding accused in the case.
Three people were killed and 21 others injured when a car bomb exploded in front of the PIDC House on November 15, 2005. The bomb went off around 8:40am, causing extensive damage to a fast-food outlet, bank branches on the ground floor and offices on upper floors.
At least seven vehicles were destroyed and eight others were damaged. The windows of adjoining buildings, including a five-star hotel and Dawood Centre, were shattered.
The KFC outlet and the adjacent Muslim Commercial Bank branch were destroyed while branches of three other banks were damaged.
