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KARACHI, Aug 28: An anti-terrorism court on Tuesday recorded the statement of a witness for the defence in the kidnapping for ransom case of SSC student Rashid, son of Qadir Bux, who was kidnapped on November 15, 2006.
Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of ATC-V fixed August 30 for the final arguments in the case.
Defence counsel G.M. Qadri produced witness Allah Ditta Shahid to record his statement. Shahid, who claims to be a journalist, is the father of Sheraz Ahmed, one of the men accused of the crime.
Shahid told the court that the case is baseless and the accused men have been falsely implicated on the basis of enmity. He claimed that the kidnap victim’s father, Qadir Bux, is a land grabber and that he [Shahid] had published articles about this in his weekly newspaper Target.
Special Public Prosecutor Mohammed Mazhar Qayyum asked the witness to produce solid documentary evidence to prove such grounds for enmity. Mr Shahid was also asked to produce any of the news articles he claimed to have published against Mr Bux, which could prove the investigation officer’s statement baseless.
Earlier, on August 17 and 23, the court recorded the statements of the men accused of the crime, Sheraz Ahmed and Qari Ghulam Yaseen, and gave them a chance to produce witnesses in their defence. They pleaded not guilty on August 17 and expressed the intention to produce witnesses in their favour. The Special Public Prosecutor has already produced 15 witnesses and closed his side on August 17.
According to the prosecution, the accused kidnapped Rashid from the Hub River side and kept him somewhere in the limits of the Manghopir police station. They demanded Rs10 million in ransom but during negotiations, Rashid’s family agreed to pay Rs2 million. The money was handed over in Nawaz Sharif Park, Islamabad, and the student was released.
A case was registered (FIR No. 147/06) under Section 365-A/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Manghopir police station.
The accused men were arrested on February 28 this year from their residence in Khawaja Ajmer Nagri for involvement in two other cases. Later, kidnap victim Rashid identified his kidnappers during an identification parade.
According to the deposition of police inspector Zafar Iqbal, who made the arrests, the accused men used to commit crimes while disguised as policemen and police uniforms were recovered from their possession. He added that their accomplices, Zahoor Ahmed Shah and Ghalib, were absconding.
Nishtar Park case
An anti-terrorism court on Tuesday put off the hearing date of the Nishtar Park case until September 8.
Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of ATC-V, who is conducting the trial, recorded the statement of the Investigation Officer Sarfraz, who had earlier been directed to submit a detailed report about the absconders’ arrest and their properties.
In his statement, the IO said that he could not find any clues about the whereabouts of the absconders and their properties to be confiscated.
The court has already issued non-bailable warrants (NBSs) against three absconders co-accused in the Nishtar Park bombing. These are Amanullah alias Mufti Ilyas alias Jamal, son of Gul Zareen; Mohammed Khalid alias Abrar, son of Mohammed Yousuf; and Qari Abid Iqbal, son of Wali Jan.
Sultan Mehmood alias Saifullah alias Muslim (26), son of Syed Salim alias Said Talib, Rehmatullah alias Rehmat(27), son of Siyam, and Mufti Mohammed Zakir Hussain Siddiqui (38), son of Siddiq-ur-Rehman, are in jail.
A fourth suspect, Mohammad Amin alias Khalid Shaheen (33), was not sent up for trial since the investigating police team did not find sufficient evidence against him.
Stated to be activists of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, they are accused of masterminding the suicide bombing at Nishtar Park during a 12th Rabiul Awwal congregation on April 11 last year.
More than 54 people, including Sunni Tehrik leaders Abbas Qadri and Iftikhar Bhatti, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal leader Hafiz Taqi and Jamat Ahle-Sunnat leader Hanif Blue were killed and 125 others were wounded in the blast.
The case was transferred to the court on July 13 by the administrative judge of the anti-terrorism courts, Abdul Ghafoor Memon, soon after the investigation officer (IO) of the case produced a charge-sheet against the accused.
