KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) has remanded two suspects, said to be associated with the outlawed Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army (SRA), in judicial custody after the Sindh High Court (SHC) set aside a duty magistrate’s Nov 2 order regarding their release.

The magistrate had discharged the two suspects — Sarmad Ali Raza and Ghani Aman Chandio —under Section 63 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) when the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) produced them to seek their physical remand in a case pertaining to possession of explosives.

On Tuesday, the CTD had challenged the order before the SHC and sought its reversal.

After hearing Prosecutor General Muntazar Mehdi, defence counsel Haq Nawaz Talpur, and others, a two-member bench, headed by acting Chief Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput, set aside the impugned order and directed the CTD to produce the suspects before the administrative judge of the ATCs on same day.

In its short order, the SHC ruled: “For reasons to be recorded later, the impugned order dated 02.11.2025, passed under Section 63 CrPC, read with Section 167 CrPC in crime no 81 of 2025 under Sections 4/5 of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908 read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, P.S CTD Sindh, Karachi, by the Judicial Magistrate-XVII…West is set aside.”

The court further noted that, on the undertaking of the acting prosecutor general and the in-charge CTD, the suspects were directed to be produced before the ATC judge for obtaining their “judicial remand.”

It also directed the jail authorities to produce the suspects before a medical officer and submit a report to the court within five days.

Later, the CTD produced the suspects before the ATC judge at the Judicial Complex inside the Central Prison Karachi, who sent them to prison on judicial remand.

On Nov 2, Duty Magistrate (West) Nisar Ahmed Chandio had discharged the suspects, directing the investigating officer to release the suspects forthwith upon furnishing surety bonds.

The magistrate noted that the discharge of the suspects would not amount to acquittal, and directed the IO to conduct a fair, impartial and expeditious investigation, and to submit the police report before the administrative judge of the ATC within the stipulated period.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2025