HYDERABAD, May 22: The prosecution side on Wednesday dropped an important witness, Arshad Noor Khan, former presiding judge of the Daniel Pearl kidnapping-cum-murder case, at the eleventh hour on the ground that the Sindh High Court did not grant him permission to depose before the court in the case of a US journalist.

Advocate General Sindh Raja Qureshi, however, produced the Resident Security Officer (RSO) at the US Consulate, Karachi, Roland Banett who claimed that the office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the USA was located in Islamabad.

The case was adjourned till May 27 as the Lahore-based defence counsel, Rai Basheer Ahmed would be busy before the Supreme Court during the next couple of days.

The Attorney General Sindh was quick to blame the defence side for resorting to extreme delaying tactics given the fact that it was earlier mutually decided between the prosecution and defence that the case proceedings would be held on a daily basis but the defence had once again reneged from its commitment.

Former presiding judge of the case, Arshad Noor, did appear before the trial court but did not record his evidence in the absence of permission from the Sindh High Court which was mandatory under article 4 of the Qanoon-e-Shahadat.

Briefing journalists after the court proceedings at the Central Prison, the Attorney General said, “Arshad Noor Khan was requested by this court to appear and he did appear but the requirements of article 4 of Qanoon-e-Shahadat mandated that he has to obtain prior permission from the superior court to appear before this court which is a sub-ordinate court. The permission was not available with Arshad Noor Khan and in view of the fact that two witnesses had been examined on the same point and to avoid legal complications, the prosecution gives this witness up.”

He, however, refused to comment as to how and why the Anti-Terrorism Court judge turned up before the court when there was no permission from the Sindh High Court.

The AG clarified, “The absence of an Anti-Terrorism Court judge being a witness in the case will neither benefit nor harm the prosecution case.”

The appearance of the judge was sought by prosecution through a written application on the ground that the principal accused, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, had made a confessional statement.

The Attorney General disclosed that Roland Banett told the court that he coordinated between the officials of the FBI and local investigating officials, and whatever information he had been provided by the FBI had been forwarded to local investigators.