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KARACHI, Jan 17: An anti-terrorism court adjourned the hearing of a trial against doctor brothers after recording the statement of their father, who appeared as the first defence witness.
Dr Akmal Waheed, a cardiac specialist of NICVD and Dr Arshad Waheed, a kidney physician of JMPC, are facing charges of terrorism. Judge Feroze Mehmood Bhatti of the ATC-2, who is conducting the trial inside the Central Prison fixed Jan 19 for the next hearing after the deposition of Hafiz Waheed Ullah.
The father of the doctor brothers stated that his sons had nothing to do with terrorism activities. He deposed that his sons were actually kidnapped on June 17 and the kidnappers demanded Rs10 million for their release on phone.
Hafiz Waheed stated that the case pertaining to the kidnapping of the doctor brothers was lodged on June 18 with the Jackson Police. He stated that the police produced his sons before a court after illegally detaining them for 15 days.
The doctors' father stated that his sons were implicated in corps commander's convoy and ranger mobile attack case. However, later the police exonerated them in two cases and booked them in this terrorism case.
Special public prosecutor I. A. Hashmi, assisted by special public prosecutor Muala Bux Bhatti, also cross-examined the defence witness. Defence counsel Ilyas Khan and Shaukat Hiyat had filed on Jan 12 a list of as many as 17 defence witnesses, who included Shaikh Rasheed Ahmed, federal information minister, and Douglus Matthews, consul general of the US Consulate in Karachi.
The defence witnesses also included Dr Azhar Farooqui, chief of the National Institute of Cardio-Vascular Diseases, Dr Shershah Syed, chief of the Pakistan Medical Association and the reporters of Ummat, Jang, Jisarat and Dawn.
The two defendants have been charged with financing, harbouring and treating activists of the Jundullah. The police announced the arrest of the Waheeds on July 2, while the family claimed that they had been picked up on June 17.
According to police, some Jundullah activists, arrested for their involvement in an attack on the corps commander's convoy and other terrorist activities, stated that the doctor brothers had close links with them.
It was also alleged that the two doctors sent two activists of Jundullah, Shahzad Ahmed Bajwah and Mohammed Qasim, to Wana for terrorist training. They also allegedly used to give shelter to Jundullah and Al-Qaeda activists, who included Abu Massab, Gul Hasan and Hassam Al-Saim.
The doctor brothers were also charged with providing medical treatment to Shahzad Ahmed Bajwah and other Jundullah activists, who were injured during an attack on a rangers mobile under the Baloch Colony bridge.
RANSOM CASE: Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5 put off the hearing of a Rs6 million ransom case, involving sons of three senior government officials, after recording the evidence of a court witness.
The judge fixed January 27 for recording the statements of the accused after the deposition of the manager of Habib Bank's West Wharf branch. 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 this month.
Suspects Mujeeb Khan Bhutto and Ghulam Murtaza Khan Bhutto, both sons of SPO Rano Khan Bhutto, and their alleged accomplice Saeed Naqi were arrested in Manchester immediately after the delivery of the ransom and the subsequent release of the victim, Ahmed Naeem son Mohammed Naeem, a Mecedeze vehicle dealer in Karachi.
The bank manager stated that Mohammed Naeem had an account in his branch and had withdrawn Rs6.1 million on Aug 9, 2004. He also placed on record photocopy of the cheque.
A close liaison between Manchester and Karachi police authorities on investigation in the case led to the immediate arrest of Fida Khoso, son of SSP Nadir Khoso, and Junaid Ansari, son of KBCA official Abdur Rehman Ansari, and their alleged accomplice Qurban Khoso, in Karachi.
A special team of the Citizen-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) and Anti-violence Crime Cell (AVCC) started the investigation after the victim's father, Mohammed Ahmed of Shahnawaz Motors, reported the matter to the authorities.
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 a series of negotiations on phone from Manchester, the kidnapper agreed to the ransom of 56,000 pounds sterling (Rs6.1 million).
