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KARACHI, Sept 20: An anti-terrorism court on Thursday adjourned hearing in a case pertaining to a conspiracy to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf on April 26, 2002 in Karachi.
The case was adjourned as the Special Public Prosecutor, Niamat Ali Randhawa, had declined to appear in the jail trials of all the high profile cases due to non-provision of security escort to him by the government.
Judge Ghulam Ali Samtio of ATC-1, who is conducting the trial in the central prison, fixed Oct 2 for recording the statements of other prosecution witnesses in the case.
The court had recorded the deposition of a police inspector, Mohammad Tariq, as a prosecution witness in the case on Sept 4.
In his statement, Mohammad Tariq said that the accused Waseem Akhtar was arrested in his presence. He identified the accused and said he was a member of the police party.
The court had indicted Mohammad Imran, Mohammad Hanif alias Ayub, Mohammad Ashraf, Waseem Akhtar, Mohammad Jamil and Arsalan alias Sharib when the accused had pleaded not guilty on July 14.
On July 24 the court had recorded statements of three witnesses Inspector Mohammad Hussain Khaskheli, Mohammad Yahya and Mohammad Yaseen.
The court, on Aug 20, recorded the statement of a former judicial magistrate, Malir, Qazi Farid Ahmed, as a prosecution witness, who is currently serving as senior civil judge, south, Karachi.
In his statement, Qazi Farid Ahmed said that the accused had been produced in his court on July 17, 2002, and had confessed of having committed the crime.
All the accused reportedly belong to the banned Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Aalmi. Co-accused Mohammad Jamil, Aamir, Naveedul Hasan and Habib Kamran are still at large.
According to the prosecution, Waseem Akhtar, a Rangers inspector, had been tasked with giving information about General Musharraf’s arrival in the city.
Kamran, who had allegedly positioned himself at a petrol station near Star Gate on Sharea Faisal, pushed the remote-control button several times but an explosives-laden vehicle did not blow up. The accused had allegedly rented out the shop in a fake name and Aamir used to sit in it.
According to the charge-sheet, Sharib had planted explosives in the vehicle and Naveed and Jamil had assembled the explosive device and its remote control.
Rangers official had allegedly leaked out the information regarding the arrival of the president and Mohammad Hanif, Imran, Jamil, Naveed, Aamir and Sharib had positioned themselves near the Awami Markaz to ascertain if the president’s motorcade had been blown up.
According to the prosecution the Aalmi leaders, during interrogation, confessed that they wanted to kill President Musharraf for his anti-Taliban and pro-US policies.
The accused were once indicted by ATC Judge Syed Aley Maqbool Rizvi on April 24, 2003. The court had awarded 10-years rigorous imprisonment to Imran, Mohammad Hanif and Mohammad Ashraf on Oct 11, 2003 and had also been fined Rs200,000 each and in case of non-payment they had to undergo an additional one-year imprisonment. The court had acquitted Waseem, Sharib and Naveed by giving them the benefit of the doubt.
They had appealed to the Sindh High Court on Nov 10, 2006 against the verdict. On their appeal, a two-member bench of the SHC comprising Justices Rehmat Hussein Jaffery and Yaseen Abbasi transferred the case to Ghulam Ali Samtio of the ATC-1 for retrial.
Mufti Ateeq killing case
Two prosecution witnesses on Thursday testified in an anti-terrorism court in the murder case of Allama Mufti Ateequr Rehman and his brother Irshad, who were killed in the limits of the Preedy police station on June 23, 2005.
An FIR No 315/05 had been registered at the Preedy police station under Sections 302, 324 and 427/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code against the accused Hammad Raza and absconding co-accused Syed Mohammad Askari.
Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of ATC-V, who is conducting the trial in the central prison, had indicted the accused on Sept 12, but he had pleaded not guilty and opted to contest the case.
The court recorded the statement of a prosecution witness, Sultan, who is a relative of the late Irshad.
Mr Sultan gave the court the details of how he received the information of the tragedy and dead body of the victim.
Another witness, who recorded his statement, was the medico-legal officer (MLO), Dr Jagdeesh, of the Civil Hospital Karachi. The MLO had conducted the autopsy of Mufti Ateeq’s body.
The doctor said that he was on duty when the victims were brought to hospital. Irshad was shifted to the intensive care unit (ICU) and the son of the late Mufti Ateeq, Amaar,10, was also injured.
He confirmed that the both the persons had died due to bullet wounds. The court had earlier recorded the depositions of three police officials, ASIs Raja Masood Ahmed, Nadeem Haider and Shabbir Ahmed, against the accused Hammad Riaz Naqvi and the absconding co-accused Syed Mohammad Askari on Sept 15.
