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KARACHI, Feb 4: An anti-terrorism court adjourned on Saturday the hearing of a bomb blast case against four workers of the banned Jundullah group after the statements of two prosecution witnesses.
Judge Feroze Mehmood Bhatti of the ATC-2 fixed Feb 13 for the next hearing after the deposition of Sub-inspectors Safdar and Fida Hussain, who were also cross-examined by the defence counsel.
Ataur Rehman, Shahzad Bajwah, Danish Imam and Uzair Ahmed, represented by defence counsel m. R. Syed, have been charged with carrying out the blast, which also claimed the life of a man.
According to prosecution, the accused planted bomb in a snatched Suzuki Margalla (AB-0657) and parked it near Marina Club on the Zulfiqar Street, Defence Housing Authority, Phase 8, on April 10, 2004. The bomb went off at 10:30pm and three occupants of a Toyota Corolla (ABJ-020) were injured. One of the injured, Farrukh Zareen Khan Afridi, died on way to hospital. Two other injured were Muzaffar Gobi and his cousin Abu Sufiyan.
Shahzad Bajwa had allegedly snatched the Margalla from Rashid Ali Khan in Gulshan-i-Iqbal hours before the bomb blast.
The prosecution, represented by special public prosecutor Maula Bux Bhatti, has, so far, examined 11, out of total 25, prosecution witnesses.
PRISONERS’ VAN CASE: Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5 put off hearing of the prisoners’ van firing case against five workers of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi after recording the statement of the last prosecution witness.
The judge reserved the cross-examination of the IO, DSP Faisal Noor till Feb 15 for want of time.
Five workers of the banned sectarian outfit have been charged with killing a constable and an under trial prisoner during an attack on a prisoners’ van.
Mohammed Faisal alias Faisal Pehalwan, Waseem Sabir, Mazhar Hussain, Mohammed Tassaduq and Muzammil Hussain were charged with attacking the prisoners’s van on Feb 28, 2002, near Bohra Pir.
The LJ men had opened fire on the van which was carrying some undertrial sectarian workers to the Central Prison after producing them in the city courts. Police constable Mohammed Shakil and an undertrial prisoner, Saqib son of Meher Din, were killed in the attack. Many other UTPs were also injured in the incident.
Sepecial public prosecutor Mazhar Qayyum is representing the state.
