KARACHI, Aug 3: Trial of the accused in the US consulate suicide bomb attack and the abortive attempt on President Musharraf’s life cases would begin here on Aug 10, along with nine other cases, in which challan was submitted on Saturday before the administrative judge of the anti-terrorism courts for Karachi, said additional an Advocate-General, Sindh.

AAG Habib Ahmed said this after police filed charges against the accused in the US consulate bomb blast and attempt on President Musharraf’s life cases before Justice Shabbir Ahmed of the Sindh High Court, who is also the administrative judge of the ATCs.

Challans against eight accused, said to be activists of the banned Lashkar- i-Jhangvi and the Harkatul Mujahideen Al Almi, were submitted.

Three leaders of the Harkat, Mohammed Imran, Mohammed Hanif Ayub and Mohammed Ashraf, have been charged with involvement in the June 14 suicide bomb attack on the US consulate in Karachi in which 12 people were killed. Imran is chief and Hanif is his deputy and Ashraf is finance secretary of the breakaway faction of the Harkatul Mujahideen.

The administrative judge had accepted the challan. The accused had been charged with bomb blast, murder and terrorism, for which maximum punishment was death, said the AAG.

The accused were brought to the court in an armoured personnel carrier amid tight security but were not produced before the AJ. Six other suspects have been listed as “absconding.”

The three men have also been charged with an attempt to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf in April. The fourth accused is a personnel of the Pakistan rangers, who is now in custody.

The airport police had submitted challan against accused Mohammed Imran, Mohammed Hanif, Ashraf and Inspector Waseem of the Pakistan Rangers, in the alleged plot to assassinate General Pervez Musharraf on April 26 this year. Six accused, Mohammed Jamil, Naveed Hasan, Mohammed Aamir, Habibullah, Sharib and Kamran, have been shown as absconders in the case.

They have been accused of stuffing a Suzuki pick-up with explosives in an attempt to blow up the motorcade of President Musharraf near the Quaid-i-Azam International Airport. The ATC-1 will try this case.

The Civil Lines police also submitted challan against three accused, Mohammed Hanif, Mohammed Imran and Ashraf, in the US consulate suicide bombing case. Justice Shabbir transferred this case also to the ATC-I.

The AJ also transferred trial of the murder case of PSO MD Shaukat Raza Mirza against accused Ajmal alias Akram Lahori, Ata and Azam of the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi to the ATC-4. Another case against the same accused registered by the Rizvia police on a charge of killing Agha Abbas of Agha Juice will be tried by the ATC-4.

The AJ also accepted three chargesheets against co-accused Shaikh Mohammed Ahmed alias Danial in three cases.

The first case against accused Danial was registered by the Sharea Faisal police on a charge of hurling a hand-grenade on a police mobile. Trial of the case was entrusted to the ATC-I.

Two other connected cases registered at Jamshed Quarters and Bahadurabad police stations against Danial were also entrusted to the ATC-I. The cases pertain to alleged killing of two police constables, Asif Khan and Jamal Baig, on October 15, 2001.

Justice Ahmed extended the date for submission of challan in four cases to Aug 10 against Imran and others. The cases pertain to bomb blasts at a McDonald restaurant, at Marina Club in the DHA,in Pirabad, and the bomb blast outside a KFC restaurant.