KARACHI: An antiterrorism court on Thursday allowed an application of 70-year-old retired professor Dr Hassan Zafar Arif seeking better facilities in prison.

Dr Arif and Amjad Ullah Khan of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-London, along with some other leaders, have been booked for allegedly facilitating and listening to the MQM founder’s speech in July last year at the party’s Karachi headquarters, Nine Zero, in which the party supremo reportedly intended to outrage religious feelings, criticise the military establishment and ask his workers to extort money from traders.

The ATC-I judge allowed a B-class application of Dr Arif and directed the jail authorities to provide him better facilities.

The court also heard the defence lawyer on his bail application and adjourned the hearing till March 3 for arguments of the prosecutor.

Airport attack case

An antiterrorism court on Thursday recorded the statements of three accused persons in the Karachi airport attack case.

Sarmad Siddiqui, Asif Zaheer and Nadeem alias Burger alias Mullah have been charged with allegedly providing logistic support, funds and weapons to around 10 attackers who stormed the airport and were killed in an operation in June 2014.

The ATC-VI judge, who is conducting the trial inside the central prison, recorded the statements of the accused. They denied all the charges and contended that they were framed in the case. The court adjourned the hearing till March 16 for final arguments.

At a previous hearing, the prosecution rested its side after examining over 30 witnesses.

According to the prosecution, around 10 heavily armed militants stormed the Karachi airport on the night of June 8 and were killed by army commandos and personnel of other security forces during an operation lasting about five hours.

Around 25 people, including personnel of the Airport Security Force, police and the Rangers were also killed, it added.

The banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan later claimed responsibility for the attack.

The police claimed that the accused belonged to Al Qaeda and the outlawed TTP, while the then TTP chief, Fazlullah, and spokesman Shahidullah Shahid, were among the absconding accused.

Myanmar national sent to jail

A sessions court on Thursday handed down two years’ imprisonment to a Myanmar national, who had been on bail for the past several years, in a case pertaining to a fake Pakistani passport.

The Federal Investigation Agency had arrested Mohammad Ismail Burmi at the Karachi airport after his deportation from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia over illegal stay in April 2012.

The FIA said that at the time of his arrest, the accused had been carrying a fake Pakistani emergency passport.

Additional district and sessions judge (Malir) Shafi Mohammad Pirzada also imposed a fine of Rs10,000 on the convict. In case of non-payment, he would have to spend 15 more days in prison.

Following the pronouncement of the verdict, he was taken into custody and sent to prison to serve out the awarded sentence.

The court directed the jail authorities and the departments concerned that necessary arrangements be made for the deportation of the convict to his native country after the completion of the sentence.

Meanwhile, the same court on Thursday awarded seven years’ sentence to an accused in an attempted murder case.

Shujaat Ali was found guilty of making an attempt on the life of Zahid Hussain in Shah Latif Town in October 2010.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2017