FAISALABAD, Jan 14: The self-styled Imam Mehdi, Shahbaz Ahmad, and his 25 followers were produced before an anti-terrorism court here amid tight security on Saturday. The prosecutors pleaded that the gang of religious extremists, headed by Shahbaz Ahmad, had attacked the police, harassed the public, used illegal weapons and committed blasphemy.

They contended that the case should be tried on day to day basis so that the accused could be given maximum and exemplary punishment.

The court accepted the plea.

Those who were produced before the court included Shahbaz Ahmad, Naveed Ali, Sajid Ali, Tajdeen Taj Ansari, Mahmoodul Hasan, Mukhtar Ahmad, Abdul Rehman, Ismail, Iqbal, Atiqur Rehman, Zafar Iqbal, Zahid Arshad, Javed Iqbal, Tahir Mahmood, Ijaz Ahmad, Muhammad Iqbal, Ilyas, Shaukat Ali, Yaseen, Talib Husain, Imran Hameed and Ishaq Nawaz.

The accused, armed with sophisticated weapons, on Dec 15 appeared on the Sargodha Road and announced that Imam Mehdi (Shahbaz) has arrived. They sprayed bullets on the public and the police and threatened the people that if they did not accept Shahbaz as Imam Mehdi, they would destroy the country.

They injured one Younas and came on to the motorway through Kamalpur interchange by harassing the toll plaza staff. They left their vehicles and spread in the area and opened fire on the police due to which their own accomplices Naveed alias Nazir, Tahir Ahmad, Babar Shafi and Abid sustained injuries. Babar died in hospital while Naveed, Tahir and Abid were admitted to the Allied Hospital. They hijacked a passenger bus.