October 10, 2007	Wednesday	Ramazan 27, 1428

RAWALPINDI, Oct 9: An anti-terrorism court here on Tuesday put off hearing in 19 cases related to Lal Masjid events involving former chief cleric of the mosque Maulana Abdul Aziz.

The ATC 1 Judge, Habibur Rehman deferred the hearing till October 25, as the prosecution failed to frame charges against the cleric in seven cases which were recently shifted from a Islamabad court after terrorism charges were appended to them.

These cases mainly pertained to violation of maintenance of public order and delivery of provocative speeches against the government.

In eight other cases, the court distributed the copies of challans among the lawyers of both the sides. Charges in these cases will be framed against Maulana Aziz on the next hearing. These cases mainly include the killing of a Rangers man and abduction of Chinese nationals and police personnel.

In four other cases, the hearing was deferred as the challans had not been completed by the police.

It may be recalled that Maulana Aziz has been granted bail in some other cases. The lawyer of the cleric has moved a bail application in these cases before the Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench.