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KARACHI, Nov 24: An anti-terrorism court put off on Wednesday hearing of the Haideri mosque bomb blast case against a worker of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi after recording statements of three prosecution witnesses, including an eye-witness.
Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5 put off the hearing till Thursday after special public prosecutor Mazhar Qayyum examined Mohammed Jamil, Inspector Mohammad Iqbal and Shabbir Ahmed, a Hyderabad-based second-hand cloth merchant, who deposed to have seen the accused hugging the suicide bomber a little before the blast.
As many as 26 people were killed and 98 others injured on May 7 when a suicide bomber blew himself inside the Haideri mosque on the premises of the Sindh Madarsatul Islam.
The LJ man, accused Gul Hasan, is stated to have been the mastermind of bomb blasts at Haideri Mosque and Imambargah Ali Raza. He is alleged to have planned attacks with absconding accused that included Asif Chuto and Mufti Obaid.
PW Shabbir stated that he used to visit Karachi on every Thursday and stay till Friday in connection with his business. He said on the day of the blast, he went to offer Juma prayers at the Sunni mosque on the premises of the Sindh Madarsatul Islam around 12:45pm.
He said he saw five or six men, including accused Gul Hasan and police constable, standing near the Shia mosque. He said the accused Gul Hasan hugged the policeman, who went inside the Haideri mosque, carrying a briefcase in his hand.
He said he heard a massive blast after he went inside the Sunni mosque. He said he and other faithful came out of the mosque and saw clouds of dust and smoke at the Haideri mosque.
He said he was the member of the Meo community, which had their head office in Clifton. He said he used to stay at the community head office. He said his community people asked him to report to the police what he had seen. He said on May 11 he went to the police station and told the investigators that he can identify accused if they are brought before them.
The prosecution witness said that he had also identified accused Gul Hasan during an identification parade before a judicial magistrate on June 25. Special public prosecutor Mazhar Qayyum has, so far, examined 28 prosecution witnesses.
RANSOM CASE: Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5 put off hearing of a Rs 6 million ransom case, involving sons of three top officials, after the accused were supplied with copies of the required documents by the prosecution.
The judge fixed Dec 4 for formal indictment of accused Fida Hussain Khoso, son of SSP Nadir Khoso, Junaid Ansari, son of KBCA official Abdul Rehman Ansari, Qurban Ali Khoso and Abdur Rasheed in the kidnapping case of Ahmed Naeem, who was released after payment of ransom in Manchester.
The gang of kidnappers, comprising sons of a senior superintendent of police, a senior preventive officer of Customs and a deputy controller of the Karachi Building Control Authority, was busted mid last month.
The victim, a son of a vehicle dealer, was kidnapped on June 11 and kidnappers released him after payment of Rs 6.1 million in Manchester. The investigators intercepted ransom calls originating from Manchester.
The kidnappers called the victim's family and initially demanded Rs50 million for his release. However, after negotiations on phone from Manchester, the kidnapper agreed to the ransom of 56,000 pounds sterling (Rs6.1 million).
PAMPHLETS CASE: Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the ATC-3 put off the hearing of a pamphlets case against an alleged worker of the banned Hizbul Tehreer. The judge would hear final arguments from prosecution and defense attorneys on the next date as special public prosecutor Naimat Ali Randhawa concluded the evidence with the testimonies of last four prosecution witnesses.
The four PWs - Sub-inspector Farhad, SI Shamshad Ali, ASI Abdur Rasheed and constable Sajjad -- were also cross-examined by Ashfaq Rafique Janjua. According to prosecution, a police party arrested accused Syed Suleman Hasan on Oct 10 around 5:40am in front of Rahmania Masjid in Liaquatabad and seized from him a shopping bag, containing pamphlets.
MURDER CASE: Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the ATC-3 put off hearing of a murder case of four women and a man after recording the statements of a prosecution witness. The judge fixed Friday for the next hearing after special public prosecutor Naimat Ali Randhawa examined PW Hoot Khan.
