KARACHI, Dec 13: An eyewitness on Tuesday turned hostile before an anti-terrorism court in a sectarian killing case.

Mohammad Ajmal alias Akram Lahori, the alleged chief of the proscribed Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, and his accomplices, Attaullah alias Qasim and Mohammad Azam alias Sharif, have been charged with killing Syed Jawad Hussain Rizvi and wounding his friend, Zamarud Hussain Jaffari, in DHA in January 2002.

In his previous statement recorded in the court of a judicial magistrate under Section 164 of the criminal procedure code, Mohammad Irshad had deposed against Mohammad Ajmal and Attaullah and also identified them during an identification parade and assigned their roles in the commission of offence.

Appearing before the trial court on Tuesday, the eyewitness testified that he along with his two friends was returning from the Seaview beach when two men riding a motorcycle opened fire on a vehicle.

However, he failed to pick out the alleged attackers he had earlier identified before the magistrate.

While pointing at the accused present in the courtroom, he deposed that none of them had opened fire.

The public prosecutor requested the court to declare the witness hostile as he had deviated from his previous statement.

Judge Ghulam Mustafa Memon of the ATC-III, who is conducting the trial at a makeshift court inside the Central Prison Karachi due to security concerns, allowed the plea and declared the eyewitness hostile.

The court adjourned the hearing till Dec 24 for further evidence of prosecution witnesses.

According to the prosecution, the accused had opened fire on the vehicle of Mr Rizvi on Jan 29, 2002 in Defence Housing Authority. The attack left him dead and his friend wounded, it said.

The accused were arrested on June 29, 2002 within the remit of the Defence police station in three cases registered under Section 13-D (going armed without licence) of the Pakistan Arms Ordinance, 1965.

The police claimed that the accused during interrogation had confessed to their involvement in a number of secretion killing cases including the present one.

A case (FIR No 52/2002) was registered under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 324 (attempt to commit premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 at the Darakhshan police station.

Warrant out for IO The same court on Tuesday issued a non-bailable warrant for the arrest of an investigation officer over his absence in another sectarian killing case.

During the last hearing, the judge had directed investigation officer Ghulam Rasool to appear in court and record his statement in the case pertaining to the murder of Irfan Haider within the remit of the North Nazimabad police station in 2002.

Mohammad Ajmal alias Akram Lahori and Attaullah were booked in the case.

The court also adjourned the hearing of three other cases against the same set of accused till Dec 24.