KARACHI, June 21: An anti-terrorism court indicted on Monday two workers of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi in a sectarian murder case. The LJ men - Ataullah and Muhammad Azam - denied their involvement in the case and pleaded "not guilty".

Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of ATC-5 put off the hearing till Tuesday, and ordered special public prosecutor Mazhar Qayyum to produce prosecution witnesses. The two accused, being tried inside Central Prison, had been charged with the killing of a factory owner on November 15, 2001 within the limits of Korangi Industrial police area.

The victim, Syed Hasan Abidi was going to his factory along with his accountant, Amir Abbas, in his car. As he slowed down his car on a speed-breaker, two attackers on a motorbike opened fire on them. Abidi died instantly, while Abbas suffered bullet wounds.

The KIA police had registered the case initially against unknown assailants on the complaint of the wounded accountant. Meanwhile, the same court adjourned the hearing of another sectarian murder case against Ataullah and Azam after recording the statements of two prosecution witnesses.

The case pertained to the killing of Syed Athar Rizvi, a pesh imam, in Korangi last year. Judicial Magistrate Javed Iqbal, who had conducted the identification parade of the two accused; and Medico-legal Officer (MLO) Dr Abdur Razzak, who had conducted the autopsy examination of the deceased's body, appeared as prosecution witnesses. Defence counsel, M R Syed, also cross-examined the prosecution witnesses.

HARKAT MEN INDICTED: An Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) headed by Judge Feroz Mehmood Bhatti on Monday indicted five activists of the banned Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Alami for their alleged involvement in seven explosive cases pertaining to bomb blasts in petrol pumps in Karachi, says PPI. Abdul Razzak, Syed Ahmer Kazmi, Muhammad Khalid, Muhammad Naeem and Mehmoodullah denied charges levelled against them, and pleaded "not guilty".