KARACHI: An antiterrorism court (ATC) on Thursday acquitted two accused, said to be associated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), in a 19-year-old targeted killing case for want of evidence against them.

The accused — Khawaja Muhammad Faisal and Syed Abu Irfan —were charged with the murder of ASI Muhammad Iqbal and Haseeb Ahmed in a targeted attack within the remit of the Gulberg police station in May 2005.

The ATC-X judge, who conducted the trial in the Judicial Complex inside the Karachi central prison, ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges against the accused persons.

During the trial, defence counsel Abdi Zaman and Osama Ali contended that the prosecution failed to produce any witnesses or evidence before the court against their clients.

Court exonerates the duo from all charges due to lack of evidence

They submitted that their clients had been falsely implicated in the case.

According to the prosecution, on May 12, 2005 the accused, along with their accomplices — Shafique ur Rehman, Yameen, Asif Buddha, Irfan Sindhi and Zakir Hussain alias Agha Adeel — had carried out a targeted attack that resulted in the deaths of ASI Iqbal and civilian Hasseeb in Federal B Area Block-5.

It is pertinent to mention that Shafique had already been acquitted in the present case in 2014 over lack of evidence.

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) had arrested the two accused in a raid in 2021 during which motorcycles and weapons were recovered from their possession.

They were booked in the case on the basis of the confessional statement of an accused, Faisal, who told the police that he, along with the two present accused, they killed ASI Iqbal and his friend in Federal B Area.

Prime suspect remanded in rape-murder case

A judicial magistrate on Thursday remanded the prime suspect in police custody in a case of alleged gang rape and murder of a minor girl.

The suspect along with two accomplices had allegedly committed the crime.

The investigation officer, Shama, brought the suspect before Judicial Magistrate (South) Zahid Ali, seeking his 14-day physical custody for further interrogation.

The IO informed the court that the suspect, along with two accomplices, had sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl at a travel booking office near the Cantt station and then strangled her to death.

Later, the suspects placed the girl’s body in a gunny bag and dumped it at a dumpsite in the Lucky Star area.

The IO further informed the court that two other suspects still needed to be arrested.

After hearing the IO, the court remanded the suspect in police custody for five days and directed the IO to produce a progress report at the next hearing.

According to the police, the detained suspect was a watchman at the ‘Bara Market’ near Cantonment Railway Station.

According to the FIR, the complainant, the victim’s mother, informed the police that she lives near the railway station in the Cantt area. She further stated that on August 24, she had gone to the clinic with her two daughters, while her 12-year-old daughter remained at home.

However, when the complainant returned, her 12-year-old daughter was missing.

During this time, the complainant searched for her at various places, but when she could not find her, she contacted the police. The police informed her that a girl’s body had been found within the jurisdiction of the Saddar police station.

When the complainant went with the police to identify the body, she discovered that unknown persons had kidnapped her daughter, raped and murdered her, and then dumped her body at a dumpsite.

A case was registered under Sections 302 (murder), 376 (rape), 365-B (kidnapping, abducting, or inducing a woman to compel for marriage, etc), and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2024