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KARACHI, Dec 2: Terrorism accused Dr Akmal Waheed and his brother, Dr Arshad Waheed, were granted bail by a division bench of the Sindh High Court on Thursday in the sum of Rs 500,000 each and personal bonds in the like amount to the satisfaction of the trial court.
They were also asked to surrender their passports to the trial court, which shall be at liberty to pass any appropriate order in respect of their custody or release. The bench, which consisted of Justices Wahid Bux Brohi and Rehmat Hussain Jafri, allowed the bail applications by a short order passed after perusal of the record and a tentative assessment of evidence against the accused. Detailed reasons will be recorded later.
The accused are alleged to have provided various facilities to Jundullah, an outlawed outfit also involved in the ambush on the Karachi corps commander. They are accused of harbouring Jundullah activists and extending them financial support for terrorism training.
According to the prosecution, they also provided medical treatment to the activists. Advocates M. Ilyas Khan and Shaukat Hayat argued on their behalf that rendering medical services to terrorists, even if the allegation could be proved, was not an offence.
The accused were arrested and released twice before being taken into custody in a third case. They were kept in confinement for 16 days before their arrest was shown to have been made in a criminal case. The whole episode reeked of mala fides, they argued.
The counsel maintained that there was no evidence against the accused brothers except the alleged confessions of some detained activists. Even in bail matters, they said, onus was on the prosecution to disclose reasonable grounds existing on record to connect the accused with the commission of the offence. Bail could not be denied as advance punishment. The case against the accused was at best one of further inquiry.
Contesting the bail, Advocate-General Anwar Mansoor Khan and Assistant AG Habib Ahmed said there was sufficient evidence to link the accused with the commission of the offences they had been charged with.
No accused could remain behind bars if a perfect case for conviction had to be made out at the stage of bail. They said the accused were rightly refused bail by the trial court. The police and the prosecution had no ulterior motive to arrest and try them.
PRODUCTION ORDERED: The Sindh High Court issued production order of Rizwanullah, a convict in Sheraton hotel blast case, who is now imprisoned at Sukkur jail, ads PPI.
The production order was issued by SHC's division bench, comprising Justice Wahid Bux Brohi and Justice Rehmat Hussain, on Wednesday during hearing of an appeal filed by Asif Zaheer and Rizwan against their conviction in Sheraton hotel blast case. They were sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court in Karachi in July last year.
According to prosecution, accused, who allegedly got training in military camp of Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami in Afghanistan, hatched a conspiracy, along with absconding accused Sohail and Adnan Qamar and prepared Mohammad Arshad for suicide bombing on bus carrying French technicians, assisting Pakistan Navy in preparation of Agosta submarine.
The suicide bomber on May 8, 2002, rammed vehicle No. J-6560, fitted with explosives, into a Navy bus, carrying Frenchmen from Sheraton hotel, resulting into death of 11 French naval technicians and three Pakistanis while several others were injured.
