KARACHI, June 25: An eyewitness identified on Friday the suspected mastermind of the bomb blast at Hyderi mosque before a judicial magistrate.
As many as 26 people were killed and dozens other wounded when a suicide bomber blew up himself in the mosque during Friday prayers on May 7, 20041.
The police produced Gul Hasan in the court of judicial magistrate Abdul Hameed Buroro, who conducted an identification parade of the suspect.
The suspect, who allegedly belongs to the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, was brought in an armoured personnel carrier amidst tight security.
Eyewitness Abdul Aziz identified the suspect among a set of dummies. In his statement before the magistrate, the witness stated that he had seen Gul Hasan wandering around in a suspicious manner when he was going to mosque for prayers, a while before the blast occurred.
The investigation officer submitted before the court that the accused confessed to have prepared the suicide bomber - constable Akbar Niazi - for the task and that he had kept a vigilant eye on the bomber until he entered Hyderi mosque.
The IO quoted suspect Gul Hasan as saying that he went to the other mosque on the premises of the Sindh Madressatul Islam. The suspect added that he informed his accomplices about the blast on phone.
The suspect, who is in a 14-day police custody, submitted to the court that the witness had seen him many times in police custody.
MURDER CASES: The prosecution, with the statement of the investigation officer, closed its side in a sectarian murder case against two workers of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi.
Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5 put off the hearing of the case till June 29, after recording the statement of IO Sub-inspector Hasan Haider.
The LJ men - Ataullah and Muhammad Azam - were being prosecuted for killing Dr Raza Peerani on June 26, 2003 in Soldier Bazaar. Two motorcyclists opened fire on the doctor as he got into his car after leaving his clinic.
Earlier, special public prosecutor Mazhar Qayyum examined DSP Amir Hameed, who had first effected the arrest of the two LJ men on June 29, 2002. The two witnesses were also cross-examined by defence counsel M R Syed.
The judge fixed the next hearing for recording statement of the accused.
The same court put off, till June 28, the hearing of another sectarian murder case against the two workers of LJ after recording the statements of three prosecution witnesses.
The two accused, being tried inside the central prison, had been charged with the killing of a factory owner on November 15, 2001 within the limits of Korangi Industrial Area police limits.
The victim, Syed Hasan Abidi was going to his factory along with his accountant, Amir Abbas, in his car. As he slowed down the car on a speed-breaker, two attackers on a motorbike opened fire on them. Abidi died instantly and Abbas suffered bullet wounds.
The KIA police had registered a case initially against unknown assailants on the complaint of the wounded accountant.
The three prosecution witnesses, who were also cross-examined by the defence counsel included injured Amir Abbas, Dr Preetam Jaserani, and DSP Amir Hameed.
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