KARACHI: Rangers informed an anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Friday about the reasons for a 90-day preventive detention of 32 suspects, while another 26 were remanded in police custody in cases relating to possession of illicit weapons and explosive substances.

The paramilitary force had picked up the suspects in a pre-dawn raid on and around the Muttahida Qaumi Movement headquarters Nine Zero in Azizabad on Wednesday.

The Rangers personnel, along with their prosecutor, brought to the ATC-II the 32 suspects blindfolded and handcuffed amid tight security. Later police, along with paramilitary personnel, produced 26 more suspects before the court in a similar manner.

The Rangers informed the court that they had detained 32 suspects for questioning upon receiving credible information about their involvement in offences relating to target killing and terrorist activities punishable under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

They said the detainees had been placed under preventive detention for three months under Section 11EEEE (1) of the ATA and in compliance of Section 11EEEE (3) of the act.

Zafar Khan alias Farrukh, Habib-ur-Rehman, Mumtaz Ali, Masood Ahmed Siddiqui, Syed Zamin Shah, Gulberg Khan, Shahid Bashir, Arshad Rehman, Amir Ahmed, Syed Shahid Ahmed, Saifullah, M. Nadir Hussain, Syed Sajid Ali, M. Irfan Sheikh, Kazim Mehmood Ahmed, Pitras Masih, Nafees Ahmed, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Ibrahim, M. Arshad Qureshi, Zakir Ali, Wajid Noor, Nadeem Ahmed Khan, Khaleef Ahmed, Mohammad Rameesh Malik, Irfanullah, Shahzaib Wali Khan, Saddam Hussain, Mohammad Irfan, Asim Ahmed, Shahzad Ansari and Syed Asghar Ali Abidi were produced before the court, along with copies of notification, detention orders and jail warrants.

The police produced 26 suspects, including Faisal Mehmood alias Mota, who was said to be sentenced to death in journalist Wali Khan Babar murder case by an ATC in absentia last year, before the same court in 27 cases for allegedly keeping unlicensed weapons and explosive material.

Police claimed that long-machine guns, sub-machine guns, G-3 and 8mm rifles, pistols and other automatic weapons and hand-grenades were found in their custody. They contended that the weapons were used in target killings and would be sent to a forensic laboratory for analysis.

Custody of the suspects was required for CRO (criminal record office) and further interrogations, they pleaded.

Initially, the court refused to grant physical custody of the suspects and asked the Rangers’ prosecutor to produce the alleged recoveries. The Rangers complied with the order.

Members of the MQM’s legal team informed the judge that police were bound to produce a person before the court within 24 hours after the arrest, but the suspects in question had been produced two days after their detention.

LICENSED WEAPONS: They claimed that the weapons recovered were licensed, dismissing allegations about explosive material as fabricated.

A couple of suspects complained about kidney and liver pain.

The judge handed the suspects over to police on physical remand till next dates (March 24 to 27) and asked the investigating officers to produce them at next hearings, along with progress reports. The court also asked them to get suspects Obaid alias K2 and Mehmood Hasan examined from a government hospital and submit a report.

According to remand papers, 14 suspects were arrested from MQM’s secretariat Khursheed Memorial Hall and the rest from a canteen near MPA hostel, Block 8, Azizabad. They include Faisal Mehmood, Mohammad Zubair, Syed Rizwan Ali, Mohammad Faizan alias Osama, Tauseef Ahmed, Wajih-ur-Rehman, Nadir Shah, Syed Mumtaz Hussain, Shabbir Ahmed, Mehmood Hasan, Mohammad Naeem, Ubaid alias K2, Mohammad Abid, Mohammad Faizan, Sajid Ali, Mohammad Noman alias Maano, Syed Haseeb Raheem, Mohammad Asif, Amir Ali, Imtiaz Hussain, Abdul Qadir, Nadeem Ahmed, Kazim Raza, Mohammad Javed, Mohammad Shakeel and M. Amir Khan.

Police registered one case each against 25 suspects and two cases against Mohammad Faizan under Section 4/5 of the Explosive Substances Act and Section 23(1)(a) of the Sindh Arms Act, 2013, read with Section 7 of the ATA, on complaints of Rangers officials at the Azizabad police station.

Rangers had also informed the same court on Thursday about the three-month preventive detention of 28 suspects, including MQM leader Amir Khan, picked up from Nine Zero.

Talking to reporters outside the court, Mohammad Jiwani of the MQM’s legal wing claimed that the suspects had been falsely implicated because the weapons recovered from them were legal. He said the explosive material was foisted upon them, which he claimed were not bombs, but just like ‘saver bulbs’.

The detainees were subjected to physical and mental torture, he said, adding that the court had remanded 26 suspects in police custody, but they had been taken away by Rangers.

Published in Dawn March 14th , 2015

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