KARACHI, July 26: An anti-terrorism court on Thursday deferred the date for the indictment of the accused in Allama Hassan Turabi’s murder case and fixed Aug 7 for the purpose.

Judge Syed Saghir Hussein Zaidi of the ATC-III had on July 13 fixed July 26 for framing charges against the accused but the date was put off due to an application of Special Public Prosecutor Niamat Ali Randhawa saying that he would be busy in another ATC and would be unable to attend the court proceedings in that case.

The defence counsel had earlier submitted two applications -- one under Section 265 C for obtaining a copy of the confessional statement of the accused and the other under Section 234 and Section 235 of the CrPC for framing the same charges against the accused in the suicide attack and an earlier abortive attack on the Allama.

Special Public Prosecutor Niamat Ali Randhawa had opposed the defence counsel’s contentions, arguing that the copy of the confessional statement could not be provided to the defence before the indictment of the accused.

Regarding the other application, the prosecution maintained that the charges against the accused in the two cases were different in nature as one case was registered by the Mobina Town police on April 6, 2006 and pertained to the attempted murder whereas the second case was registered on July 14, 2006 by the Sachal police for assassinating the religious scholar.

The court had rejected both applications. The defence counsel on July 26 filed another application for the bail of the accused.

Allama Turabi, provincial vice-president of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and chief of the Tehrik-i-Islami, was killed in a suicide attack on July 14, 2006 near his house in Gulshan-i-Iqbal. His nephew, Imran Ali Turabi, also died in the attack by a man identified by police as Abdul Karim.

The severed head of the suicide bomber was found at the scene of the blast. Three police guards sustained injuries in the attack while a woman standing in the balcony of her nearby apartment received pellets from the explosive device.

The attempt on Allama Turabi’s life was made on April 6 last year when an explosive-laden pushcart was rammed into his vehicle passing through Abul Hasan Ispahani Road.