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KARACHI, July 7: The Sindh High Court dismissed on Wednesday bail applications of two accused involved in an accountability reference alleging embezzlement of funds in the construction of Shah Abdul Latif University new campus at Khairpur.
One of the applicants was, however, allowed to remain on provisional pre-arrest bail till August 2 to enable him to approach the Supreme Court. Khamiso Khan Memon and co-accused Akhter Ali Matho are alleged by the National Accountability Bureau of misappropriating the new campus project funds amounting to over Rs69 million.
A division bench comprising Justices Sabihuddin Ahmed and Mohammad Afzal Soomro observed that they had failed to make out a case for grant of the concession in exercise of the court's constitutional jurisdiction.
The counsel appearing for Akhter Ali Matho pointed out that his client was already on interim bail allowed to him by the high court. The bench directed that the interim bail could be extended for four weeks so that he could approach the Supreme Court for relief.
Unless otherwise ordered by the apex court, he could be taken into custody after August 2. Advocates M. Ilyas Khan and Amir Raza Naqvi appeared for the petitioners and Amanullah Khan for the bureau.
Justice Ahmed, meanwhile, continued hearing of a suit filed by the Outdoor Advertisers Association against the auction of publicity rights by the city government in alleged infringement of their rights. The hearing was adjourned to Friday for further arguments by Khwaja Naveed Ahmed, counsel for the plaintiff association.
DISPOSED OF: Another division bench consisting of Justices Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Gulzar Ahmed disposed of as not pressed two identical petitions on behalf of convict appellants in the US consulate bombing case.
Ms Rukhsana Farhat, mother of convict appellant Sharib Farooqui, and Mohammad Raees Khan, father of convict appellant Hafiz Zubair, submitted that the two were currently detained at the Central Prison, Karachi, where they were being 'maltreated'.
The petitioners apprehended that they might be killed in fake police encounters. The encounters, they alleged, would be staged during the convicts' shifting to another prison outside Karachi. They sought the convicts' production in the court for recording of their statements.
Belonging to Harkatul Mujahideen Al Alami, Sharib and Zubair were convicted and sentenced by an anti-terrorism court with two others in the consulate bomb blast case. They have challenged the ATC judgment in the high court.
Central Prison deputy superintendent Nazeer Ahmed Qureshi appeared on Wednesday in response to a court notice and denied that the convicts were being maltreated. He also stated that there was no plan to transfer them from the Karachi jail.
A provincial attorney earlier argued that a petition could not be maintained on mere apprehension or speculation. There was no maltreatment of the convicts and no shifting was planned at present.
Representing the petitioners, Advocate Maqboolur Rehman did not press the petitions after the statement of deputy superintendent Nazeer Qureshi. The bench accordingly disposed of the petitions as not pressed.
