KARACHI, Feb 4: Two suspects arrested for their alleged involvement in the Shershah scrap market carnage case were identified by as many eyewitnesses during an identification parade held inside the Karachi Central Prison on Friday.

A few days back, the investigation officer of the case moved an application before the administrative judge of the anti-terrorism courts in Karachi for holding an identification parade of three suspects — Shafi Magsi, Aslam Pervez and Ali Nawaz — stating that seven witnesses wanted to identify the suspects.

The administrative judge ordered a judicial magistrate to conduct the identification parade of the suspects, who were on judicial remand, inside the prison.

On Friday Judicial Magistrate (west) Rasool Bux Mirjat went to the prison and conducted the parade.

The three suspects along with 18 dummies were lined up before the magistrate and witnesses were called in to identify them. Only two witnesses — Mohammad Atiq and Sajid — appeared in court and rightly picked out suspects Shafi Magsi and Aslam Pervez as two of those involved in the gory incident. However, they did not identify the third suspect, Ali Nawaz.

While assigning their roles in the commissioning of the offence, the witnesses said that they saw both the suspects at the scene of crime when the incident took place.

One of the witnesses added that suspect Aslam Pervez used to visit the scrap market and he saw him there on a number of occasions prior to the incident.

It’s worth noting that on Dec 31 two other witnesses — Imran and Arshad — had failed to recognise the same set of suspects during an identification parade.

The three suspects, said to be associated with one of the several criminal gangs operating in Lyari and arrested on Dec 22, along with their accomplices have been booked for allegedly carrying out the Shershah scrap market carnage on Oct 19, 2010 that had left 12 people dead and several others wounded.

A case (FIR 578/2010) was registered under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 324 (attempted murder), 386 (extortion by putting a person in fear of death or grievous hurt) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 at the Pak Colony police station on a complaint of a survivor, Mohammad Nafees.

The case against the suspects is pending trial before the ATC-III.

On Jan 26, the administrative judge of the ATCs released nine other suspects under Section 497 (2) of the criminal procedure code for want of sufficient evidence.