March 06, 2008	Thursday	Safar 27 ,1429

KARACHI, March 5: The Karsaz inquiry tribunal gave on Wednesday two more weeks to PPP leader Agha Siraj Durrani and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s chief security officer retired Major SSP Imtiaz to appear before the tribunal to record their statements.

Special prosecutor Arshad Lodhi told the tribunal chief, retired Justice Dr Ghous Mohammad, that summons could not be served on Mr Durrani as he was not present at his Garhi Yasin residence and had gone to Dubai from where he might have returned to Islamabad.

Quoting a report of the Garhi Yasin SHO, he submitted that at least 15 days were required to serve a notice on Mr Durrani. The tribunal ordered its registrar, Zahoor Ahmed Hakro, to reissue the notice for Mr Durrani for March 22. The process server was told to deliver notices at Mr Durrani’s residential addresses in Garhi Yasin and Islamabad.

About retired Major Imtiaz, the tribunal’s liaison officer, SSP Niaz Khoso, stated that the witness called him and sought 15 days to appear before the tribunal as he was deputed as chief security officer of PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari. The request was allowed and the tribunal fixed March 22 as the date for recording his statement.

Later, the tribunal adjourned the proceedings till March 10 for recording statements of PPP leader Syed Qaim Ali Shah and float driver Abdul Ghani Baloch.

So far, the tribunal has recorded statements of 40 witnesses but the only man who deposed from the PPP side was retired Major-General Ahsan Ahmed.

The tribunal was investigating the midnight carnage caused by twin suicide blasts on Ms Bhutto’s homecoming procession near Karsaz on Oct 18 which killed 140 people and injured 500 others.

The Sindh government constituted the tribunal on Oct 31 to investigate and ascertain the circumstances and causes that led to the twin blasts at the PPP rally. The tribunal was also assigned to examine the security arrangements made by the administration and organisers; to find out negligence and lapse on part of law-enforcement agencies as well as organisers of the rally; to fix responsibility against persons/groups involved in the incident and to suggest effective measures to be taken to prevent recurrence of such incidents.