MULTAN, July 29: Judge Malik Zulfiqar Ali of the Dera Ghazi Khan anti-terrorist court on Monday directed Muzaffargarh district Nazim Sultan Mehmood Hinjra and four others to appear as court witnesses in the under-trial Meerwala gang-rape case.

Sultan Hinjra, Maulvi Faiz Muhammad, Meerwala councillor Amjad Husain, Wadduwala councillor Abdul Wahid, sub-inspector Muhammad Sadiq, constables Arshad, Majeed and Rizwan were among the 27 prosecution witnesses. However, prosecutor Ramzan Khalid Joiya moved an application on Monday to drop them from the list of prosecution witnesses (PWs).

But the defence counsel — Malik Muhammad Saleem, Muhammad Yaqoob Khan and Yasir Khosa — contested the prosecution move and urged the court to apply its own mind to determine who was important to be asked to assist the court to reach any conclusion.

The defence lawyers insisted on recording the statements of the elected representatives of the local bodies. At this, the court proceedings had to be adjourned for a short period.

When the court re-assembled, the judge announced that the prosecution request to drop the names of certain PWs had been partially. The judge directed Sultan Hinjra, Maulvi Faiz, councilor Amjad, councilor Abdul Wahid and constable Majeed to appear as PWs in the case.

Recording his statement as PW1, Sultan Hinjra said he learnt about the Meerwala incident probably on July 1 or 2, through newspaper reports. He deposed that the area people were terrified after what happened at Meerwala and that the incident had damaged country’s image in the outside world.

When the defence counsel started grilling, the Nazim lost his patience and said neither he would make further statement nor the lawyers could force him to be the subject of cross-examination because he was a district Nazim.

Here the court advised him to give his statement because he was duty-bound by the law to reply queries of the counsel and warned him that he could be penalized if he refused to answer questions.

To a question, PW1 said no resolution had so far been adopted neither at the union council level nor at district council to condemn the Meerwala incident. He said he could not say whether it was a terrorist incident.

On the completion of the statement and cross-examination of the PW1, the court adjourned the proceedings for July 30 (Tuesday). Sultan Hinjra was the fifth witness to be heard and cross-examined on Monday.

Earlier, constable Rafiq Ahmed (PW3) of the security branch of Muzaffargarh DPO office, constable Ali Muhammad (PW4) of Jatoi police station, head constable Muhammad Yar (PW5) of formerly Jatoi police station, and head constable Azhar Abbas (PW6), Moharrir of Jatoi police station, gave their statements before the court.

Moharrir Azhar Abbas said that on June 22 last he gave rifles to two constables who were accompanying ASI Muhammad Iqbal. The latter told him that Mastois had confined a boy, Abdul Shakoor, and they were going there to rescue him. He said at 9pm the ASI and the constables returned with Shakoor.

To a question, he said Shakoor was not locked up so it was not his duty to record his presence. He said at 12 in the night he left the police station on the completion of his duty. Next morning, he was told that Faiz Bakhsh (chief juror) and another person had come to the police station at 2am on June 23 and took Abdul Shakoor with them. He claimed that neither ASI Iqbal nor the two constables told him what had happened at Meerwala.

The court directed all the remaining PWs to remain present on the next date of hearing but the prosecution lawyers urged the court not to call the four eye-witnesses — Mukhtaran Mai, her father Ghulam Farid, brother Abdul Shakoor and Maulvi Abdul Razzaq — until the time of recording their statements, citing security risk as the ground to support their plea.

The court accepted their request and summoned only Abdul Lateef Chandia, SHO, Jatoi police station, and Shaukat Murtaza Malik, DSP, Muzaffargarh, to appear on Tuesday besides the four PWs.