May 07, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1, 1429

RAWALPINDI, May 6: An anti-terrorism court here on Tuesday put off the hearing in the bail pleas of former chief cleric of Lal Masjid Maulana Abdul Aziz in eight different cases as the judge was on leave.

This was a second time in four days that the bail pleas were adjourned as on the last date, April 3, the prosecution lawyer did not appear in the court.

The Maulana has been implicated in 27 cases and granted bail in 19. If he gets the bail in the remaining eight cases, he will be released.

In the meantime, a special public prosecutor engaged by the federal government moved an application in the Supreme Court seeking cancellation of bails granted to the Maulana by the Islamabad High Court in four major cases.

Muhammad Illyas Siddiqui, the prosecutor, pleaded that the Maulana had been nominated in some cases and declared as absconder in certain other cases. The Maulana was the custodian of the mosque and Jamia Hafsa at the time of the operation and 27 cases had been pending against him, he maintained. The SC has yet to take up the application.