April 18, 2008	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 11, 1429

KARACHI, April 17: An anti-terrorism court on Thursday adjourned till April 24 the hearing of a case against Qasim Toori pertaining to an attack in 2004 on the convoy of the then corps commander Karachi.

On the directives of the judge, Abdul Ghafoor Memon, of the ATC-II, the superintendent of the Central Prison Karachi appeared in court along with the relevant record.

The jail chief told the court that as the accused was a high profile criminal and due to security reasons, he had moved an application to the provincial home department requesting for a trial inside the jail. He further informed the court that the home department had granted permission for a trial inside the jail. The next hearing will be held inside the Central Prison.

According to the prosecution, the accused, Qasim Toori, along with his associates had allegedly attacked the convoy of the then corps commander of Karachi, Lt-Gen Ahsan Saleem Hayat, near the Clifton Bridge on June 10, 2004. Around 11 people were killed and 12 others were injured in the incident, however the corps commander remained unhurt in the ambush.

A case (FIR No 165/04) was registered against the accused at the Clifton police station under Sections 302, 324, 404/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 3/4/5 of the Explosives Act read with Section 7 of the Anti-terrorism Act. Toori and his other associates were arrested on Jan 29, 2008 after a shootout with the police and other law-enforcing agencies in the Shah Latif area of Bin Qasim Town. Shahab, Bilil, Hamad and Tayyab alias Saad were declared absconders in the case.

An anti-terrorism court had already sentenced ten other accused in the case to death.

PPP nazim acquitted

The judicial magistrate-III, West, acquitted a former PPP-backed nazim of Orangi Town, Mohammad Shahid Alam, alias Guddu Behari, Tariq, and others due to a lack of evidence in a case pertaining to extortion, rioting and destroying property.

According to the prosecution, Shahid Alam along with his associates had damaged shops at Iqbal Market in the limits of the Pakistan Bazaar police station after a dispute with the shopkeepers over extortion.

A case was registered at the Pakistan Bazaar police station under Sections 147, 148, 149, 387 and 337-A of the Pakistan Penal Code on the compliant of Mohammad Kaif Anwar.