October 26, 2007	Friday	Shawwal 13, 1428

RAWALPINDI, Oct 25: An anti-terrorism court here on Thursday adjourned hearing in 21 different cases against former chief cleric of Lal Masjid Maulana Abdul Aziz as he was absent from the court due to his illness.

The ATC-1 Judge Habibur Rehman deferred the hearing till November 12. The cases were registered with three police stations in the capital against Maulana Aziz for his alleged involvement in different incidents related to Lal Masjid.

The Maulana is charged with terrorism, abduction, encountering police, physical attack, hurling threats and creating law and order in these cases. Nineteen cases have been registered with Abpara police station. One each is registered with Margalla and Bara Kahu police stations. The court also adjourned hearing in the bail applications of two alleged suicide bombers suspected for their involvement in the two blasts in Islamabad in July by October 30.

Police record in the cases of two brothers Faisal and Qasim Mushtaq could not be produced in the court as their lawyer had moved bail applications. The police claimed to have arrested the two brothers from the area of Bara Kahu police station along with some explosive material and illegal weapons.

On the other hand, their father, an official of a public sector university, had claimed his sons were arrested from their houses at Shahzad Town and Wah Cantt on two different days. He had lodged complaints about their absence in the respective police stations.

Meanwhile, ATC-2 judge deferred hearing in the case of a suspected terrorist who allegedly planted a bomb outside an army mess on September 4 when two suicide blasts killed 25 people in the cantonment areas.

According to police investigations Sajjad Haider, a grade 19 officer in Federal Board of Revenue, left a handbag outside the army mess to implicate his rivals in the incident as he also put the photo copies of their identity cards along the explosive material.