KARACHI: Jail authorities on Wednesday informed an antiterrorism court that eight suspects of the Safoora Goth bus carnage case were handed over to the military authorities on Jan 12 for their trial in military courts.
The provincial authorities transferred 18 cases, including the Safoora Goth bus massacre and Sabeen Mahmud murder cases, from the ATCs to the military courts for trial after getting approval from the federal government a couple of weeks ago. The superintendent of the Karachi central prison through a letter informed the ATC-VI that the suspects namely Saad Aziz alias Tin Tin, Tahir Hussain Minhas alias Sain, Asad-ur-Rehman alias Malik, Hafiz Nasir alias Yasir, Mohammad Azhar Ishrat alias Majid, then Fishermen Cooperative Society vice chairman Sultan Qamar Siddiqui, his brother Hussain Umar Siddiqui and Naeem Sajid had been shifted from the central prison to the Malir cantonment for their trial in military courts in 18 cases.
Apart from the Safoora bus carnage case and the Sabeen Mahmud case, the other 16 cases include murder of policemen, attempted murder and carrying explosive substances and illicit weapons.
The jailer said they had asked the authorities concerned that the suspects be returned after being tried in military courts, as they were also required in the cases pending before the ATCs and a sessions court.
Apart from the 18 cases sent to military courts, court officials said, over 10 more cases, including murder, attempted murder and illicit weapon cases, were still pending trial before ATCs and the sessions court.
Around 45 Shia Ismaili community members, including 18 women, were killed and eight others sustained gunshot wounds in an armed attack on their bus near Safoora Goth in May 2015.
Tahir, a construction entrepreneur and the alleged mastermind of the bus attack, Saad, a business graduate and alleged to have filmed the brutal attack, and Asad, who allegedly backed up the attackers, were charge-sheeted for their direct involvement in the case while Nasir and Azhar were named for allegedly providing accommodation, funds and reconnaissance to the main suspects.
Sultan Qamar, his brother and their alleged accomplice were also nominated for allegedly providing weapons to the assailants.
The police have shown around 10 absconders in the case, including arms dealer Zahid Abdul Qadir alias Zahid Motiwala, and placed over 100 prosecution witnesses, including 10 eyewitnesses, in the final investigation report and contended that all the suspects remained associated with Al-Qaeda and following its split they became part of militant Islamic State group.
Saad was also booked for allegedly killing Sabeen Mahmud, social media campaigner and human rights activist, who founded the social forum T2F, in Defence Housing Authority in April 2015 when she along with her mother was returning home after organising a seminar on Balochistan.
Transfer of case challenged in SHC
Meanwhile, the Sindh High Court issued notices to the federal and provincial authorities to file comments on a petition of the family of one suspect, Naeem Sajid, who challenged the transfer of the Safoora Goth bus carnage case to the military court.
The petitioner’s lawyer contended that Naeem Sajid was picked up by the law-enforcement agencies, kept in illegal detention for more than three months and later falsely implicated in the case.
While requesting the court to declare the transfer of the petitioner’s trial null and void, the counsel argued that the case did not fall within the ambit of the Pakistan Army Act, 1952 as it was inconsistent with a mandatory provision of the Protection of Pakistan Act.
Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2016
