August 12, 2008	Tuesday	Sha'aban 9, 1429

KARACHI, Aug 11: An additional district and sessions court adjourned on Monday the hearing of a case against five suspected terrorists arrested on the eve of Ashura till Aug 25 because the accused had not been brought from the Central Prison.

The judge, Nelofer Shahnawaz, issued a show-cause notice to the jail superintendent directing him to produce the accused in court on the next date of hearing.

On June 27, the court had indicted the suspected terrorists on charges of possessing weapons and explosives and for planning to carry out attacks on processions during Ashura. They had pleaded not guilty and opted to contest the case.

The court had summoned all the prosecution witnesses directing them to testify in the case. However, they did not comply with court’s order. The judge on Monday also issued notices to the witnesses via the investigation officer asking them to appear in court on the next hearing.The prosecution said that five suspected terrorists, Syed Mohammed Waseem alias Imran, Mohammed Aijaz alias Abdul Rehman, Jamil Ahmed alias Wazir Akbar, Mohammed Hamid, alias Qasim and the would-be suicide bomber, Aziz Ahmed, alias Mohammed Khan were arrested by the CID police on Jan 19 from North Karachi. The suspects were allegedly planning suicide attacks on mourning processions.

Girls’ recovery

A district and sessions court directed the police to recover the two girls allegedly kidnapped by their uncle and submit a report till Aug 16.

The mother of the two kidnapped girls, Zainab, 11, and, Sara, 8, through an application told the court that her daughters were kidnapped by their uncle, Shah Tareen, following a Jirga decision at their native town in district Mansehra and requested for their recovery. The district and sessions judge, Central, Sofia Latif, on Aug 4 had directed the SHO of the Gulberg police station to implement the court’s orders regarding the recovery of the two girls kidnapped and submit a report till Aug 11.

However, the SHO on Monday told the court that efforts were under way for the recovery of the detained girls and a police party had been dispatched to Mansehra. The police official also sought some time from the court in this regard.

Earlier, on July 22, the court had directed the Sindh home department through the SHO to constitute a police team and dispatch it to Mansehra to recover the detained girls and asked the Mansehra DPO to cooperate and coordinate with the police team.

The court also directed the police to recover the detained girls and arrest the kidnappers, and to submit a report in court within 10 days. However, the court’s order could not be implemented since the SHO had misinterpreted it.