October 24, 2008	Friday	Shawwal 24, 1429

KARACHI, Oct 23: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday adjourned till Nov 10 the hearing of a case of the assassination of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal leader Allama Hassan Turabi and his young nephew by a suicide bomber.

An investigation officer of the case submitted a supplementary charge-sheet against the co-accused, Raheemullah alias Ali Hasan alias Naeem, a suspected activist of the proscribed Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, who was arrested on Sept 26 after a shootout in Saeedabad area.

Earlier, the court had declared Reheemullah, Mufti Illyas, Khalid Khan and Sohail Siddiqui absconders in the case.

The judge, Annand Ram Hotwani of ATC-III, who is conducting the trial inside the Central Prison of Karachi, put off the hearing with the consent of both sides till Nov 10. The court is likely to indict Reheemullah on the next date of hearing.

On March 19, the court indicted the arrested accused, Sultan Mahmood alias Saifullah, Mohammad Amin alias Khalid Shaheen, Mohammad Akbar Khan, Mohammad Rehman alias Mani, and Ashfaq Qureshi on charges of masterminding the suicide attack on Allama Hassan Turabi. However, the accused pleaded not guilty and opted to contest the case.

The prosecution said the Sindh chief of the Tehrik-i-Islami and provincial vice-president of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, Allama Hassan Turabi, and his young nephew, Ali Turabi, were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the religious leader’s Gulshan-i-Iqbal residence on July 14, 2006. They were coming back home after attending an anti-Israel demonstration organised by the MMA.

The suicide bomber was later identified as Abdul Karim. Three police guards, Azhar Hussain, Fakhar Hussain and Mohammad Rashid, and a woman, Noreen, were also injured in the blast.

Bail plea rejected

The same court on Thursday rejected the bail applications of four suspects facing trial for kidnapping for ransom of a five-year-old boy.

Shahzad, Danish, Shoaib and Arif had moved bail applications through their counsel and requested the court to grant them bail.

However, special public prosecutor Mobashir Mirza opposed the plea and argued that the complainant had nominated the suspects in an FIR and the prosecution also had solid evidence against them, adding that bail applications were not maintainable at this stage and pleaded for its dismissal.

According to the prosecution, the suspects allegedly kidnapped five-year-old Javed on March 27 in Baldia Town while the victim was on way to his school.

Later, the accused demanded a ransom of Rs100,000 from the victim’s father, Ghulam Hussain. Mr Hussain approached the police, who started an investigation. In the meantime, Shahzad, who appeared to be a cousin of Javed, allegedly pushed the boy from the Clifton Bridge to avoid being identified by the boy.

However, the boy survived and according to the prosecution regained consciousness after three days and told his ordeal to his parents. He also identified Shahzad as one of his kidnappers.

The Citizens-Police Liaison Committee and the Anti-Violent Crime Unit teams arrested the four suspects in raids conducted on April 3.

The case was registered at the Baldia Town police station on the complaint of the victim’s father.

Drug peddlers’ remand

A civil judge and judicial magistrate (west) on Thursday remanded 10 suspected drug peddlers in judicial custody till Oct 29.

The prosecution said the police had arrested Gul Mohammad, Ghulam Sarwar, Qasim Ali, Imanullah, Shahzad Ali, Razzaq, Saeed Ahmed, Fada Hussain and others on Oct 17 and recovered 1,940 kilograms of charas which was being smuggled abroad through a sea route in their boat.

A case was registered against the suspects under the Control of Narcotic Substances Act on the complaint of a customs officer.