RAWALPINDI, March 25: Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) No. 1 Special Judge Chaudhry Habibur Rehman here on Tuesday put off the hearing in Azam Tariq murder case till April 16 as lawyers from both sides were not present to pursue the case.

The court was to record the statements of prosecution witnesses, but no one appeared before the judge.

The trial of two accused — Mudassir Ali and Mohammad Ali — is being carried out in the central jail at Adiala due to sectarian nature of the case. They are being tried for killing Maulana Azam Tariq, the head of defunct Sipah-i-Sahaba.

He was killed by gunmen in Islamabad on October 6, 2003, at a toll plaza. The arrested men were booked by the Golra police on the charges of murder, attempted murder, planning a murder, damaging vehicles and terrorism.

Three persons had already been acquitted in the case by the ATC.

They were Sajid Naqvi, Amanullah Sial and Nasir.

Meanwhile, an additional sessions judge (ASJ) sentenced a man to one year in prison and fined him Rs10,000 for carrying 1.1kg narcotics. The convict will have to undergo another 15-day imprisonment if he failed to pay the fine.

ASJ Malik Sajid Ali Awan convicted Sangar Khan for carrying charas in a case registered with the Westridge police some nine months ago.

The judge gave Mr Khan the benefit of section 382 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), ruling that the time he had spent in jail as an undertrail would be included in his over all imprisonment.