KARACHI, July 5: An Anti-Terrorism Court on Thursday deferred till August 7 the indictment against Balochistan National Party (Mengal) chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal. The adjournment was the result of a lawyers’ strike called by the Pakistan Bar Council and the Supreme Court Bar Association. ATC judge Saghir Hussain Zaidi, who is conducting the trial in the central jail, adjourned the hearing.

Formerly the chief minister of Balochistan, Mr Mengal is being tried by the court for kidnapping and holding hostage havaldar Qurban Hussain and lance-naik Fayaz Ahmed while the army personnel were going to perform intelligence duties on April 5, 2006. According to the prosecution, Mr Mengal and his employees tortured the two men with the intention to kill them at his house in Darakshan, Karachi. The abductees were released after law-enforcement personnel laid siege to Mr Mengal’s house.