LAHORE: A Lahore High Court division bench on Tuesday temporarily restrained an anti-terrorism court from concluding trial of the accused in Farzana murder case.

The prime suspect, Muhammad Azeem, father of Farzana, filed the petition through Advocate Mansoorur Rehman Khan Afridi challenging the jurisdiction of the ATC to hold trial.

Farzana was killed by her family in a brutal incident near the Lahore High Court for marrying a man of her choice.

The counsel argued that provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act were inserted in the FIR without any justification. He said it was a case of a court of ordinary jurisdiction of law instead of a special court of law. He said a murder derived from family enmity could not be treated as a terrorism act.

Advocate Afridi asked the court to order deletion of section 7-ATA from the FIR and refer the trial to a court of ordinary jurisdiction.

ATC indicts five suspects in Farzana murder case

The bench after hearing arguments restrained the trial court from deciding the case but allowed to continue proceedings. The bench also summoned the case record on Aug 4.

Meanwhile, the ATC adjourned hearing of the trial till July 19 after the counsel for the accused informed it about the order passed by the LHC. The trial court had already indicted five for killing Farzana.

The Mozang police had registered a case under anti-terrorism charges against the accused. The family of Farzana got an abduction case registered against her husband, Muhammad Iqbal, to exact revenge for marriage.

UMAR AKMAL: A district and sessions court sought comments from the Gulberg station house officer on a petition moved by cricket Umar Akmal seeking registration of a criminal case against a traffic warden.

In February, the police had arrested the cricketer following a scuffle with warden Zeeshan near Firdous Market, Gulberg. The warden claimed he had stopped Akmal for violating a traffic signal and issued a challan, however, the cricketer denied it. Later, the matter was resolved following reconciliation between Akmal’s father and the warden.

Akmal in his petition pleaded that Zeeshan had stopped his car without any reason and issued him a challan. He alleged the warden not only misbehaved with him, but also manhandled him and threatened with dire consequences.

He said police did not take action on his application against the warden. He asked the court to order registration of a criminal case against the warden.

The presiding judge, Safdar Ali Bhatti, issued a notice to the SHO for July 16.

EXTORTION: Judge Safdar Ali Bhatti sought comments from the Ghalib Market SHO on a petition seeking registration of a case against district coordination officer’s Staff Officer Tariq Zaman and others on charges of blackmailing and extortion.

The petition moved by the owner of a restaurant on MM Alam Road alleged that Zaman along with his assistant, Wasif, had been collecting extortion from their eatery for two years.

Petitioner Wajih Haider Naqvi alleged the respondents threatened him with dire consequences whenever he refused to pay the money. He said the respondents came to his restaurant on July 14 and started demanding money.

Many lawyers, including office-bearers of the district bar, having Iftar there also witnessed the incident, he added.

The petitioner alleged the respondents snatched Rs100,000 from the restaurant’s cashier and left while hurling threats at him. He requested the court to order registration of a criminal case against district coordination officer’s staff officer and his assistant.

The judge issued a notice to the station house officer for July 17.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2014