February 17, 2008	Sunday	Safar 09, 1429

KARACHI, Feb 16: An anti-terrorism court on Saturday recorded final arguments by the prosecution and the defence in the March 2, 2006 bombing of US consulate and reserved the verdict till March 30.

The alleged militants, Anwarul Haq and Usman Ghani, were booked for masterminding the suicide attack outside the consulate that had left four people, including US diplomat David Fyfe, dead and 54 others injured.

The ATC-III Judge, Ahmed Nawaz Shaikh, who conducted the trial inside the Central Prison Karachi, recorded the final arguments on Saturday. Defence counsel Mushtaq Ahmed, representing Usman Ghani, said the prosecution failed to prove his client’s involvement in the case. He submitted that the charges against him were based on the statements of two eyewitnesses, Sakindar Hayat and Ali Zaman, but there was no evidence against him.

He argued that Abdullah Kakar, the owner of canteen where Sikandar Hayat worked had neither mentioned the presence of the witnesses in his statements. Nor was he examined by the prosecution. He said police did not mention the presence of the said witnesses at the scene of the incident in its initial reports and they were included as eyewitnesses after March 21. The counsel also raised objections on the identification parade and said it was not conducted as per the law.

The defence counsel representing Anwarul Haq said that his client was falsely implicated in the case. He further submitted that the accused was made to give confessional statement under duress and legal formalities were also not completed. Special Public Prosecutor Naimat Ali Rindhawa appeared on behalf of the state.—A Reporter