KARACHI: An antiterrorism court on Saturday granted bail to three men, alleged to be agents of the Indian intelligence agency RAW, in cases pertaining to anti-state activities and possession of explosives and illicit weapons.

Mohammad Shafiq Khan alias Pappu, an employee of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, Abdul Jabbar alias Zafar Tension, Mohsin Khan alias Kashif, Khalid Aman alias Dad and Adil Ansari have been charged with allegedly spying for the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), getting training in India, being involved in anti-state activities and carrying explosive material and weapons.

The Counter-Terrorism Department claimed to have arrested four of the five accused in August 2015 after an encounter in Gulistan-i-Jauhar and found explosives and unlicensed weapons in their custody. Accused Ansari was arrested later.

Shafiq, Jabbar and Mohsin, through their lawyers, moved bail applications in the main as well as connected cases and after hearing arguments from both sides, the ATC-I judge granted them bail against a surety bond of Rs500,000 each.

The prosecution has so far examined one out of seven witnesses while the high court had already granted bail to Ansari.

According to the prosecution, the accused worked for RAW, got training in India and were involved in terrorism. The court had already declared London-based MQM leader Mohammad Anwar and two others, Mehmood Siddiqui and Mohammad Salman, proclaimed officers.

It maintained that accused Aman disclosed during interrogation that Mr Anwar and Mr Siddiqui had played a role in getting them trained by RAW. It further said that Aman in his confessional statement before a judicial magistrate also said that after training he was arrested and sent to a Delhi jail following a brawl with his accomplice Javed Langra.

Thereafter, the MQM leader along with Siddiqui allegedly came from London to settle the dispute and got him released, the prosecution said, alleging that he sent Aman back to Pakistan with the help of RAW agents.

The main case was registered under Sections 120-B (punishment of criminal conspiracy), 123-A (condemnation of the creation of state and advocacy of abolition of its sovereignty), 324 (attempted murder), 353 (criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 at the CTD police station.

They have also been booked in some connected cases under the Explosive Substances Act, 1908 and the Sindh Arms Act, 2013.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2017