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KARACHI, March 19: Two leaders of the defunct Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, Karachi, were discharged on Wednesday in a sectarian murder case by an anti-terrorism court for want of evidence against them.
Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the ATC-3 ordered that the names of Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Nadeem and Maulana Ilyas Zubair, the president and the general secretary of the banned Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, Karachi, be deleted from the final chargesheet as the investigation officer said there was no evidence against the two.
The case pertained to the killing of one Shamim Raza on April 28, 2001, in Orangi Town.
Inspector Hameedullah Khan Niazi, who was summoned by the court, stated that the prime accused, Imran Islam, had disclosed that he had killed the victim after hearing the audio cassettes, containing fiery speeches.
When the judge asked if the police had any other evidence against the two leaders, the poli-ceman replied in the negative.
The judge ordered the production of accused Imran Islam on March 26 when his trial would formally commence.
BOMB BLAST CASE: The ATC-2 put off the hearing of a bomb blast case against a worker of the Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Aalmi after the statement of a judicial magistrate as prosecution witness.
JM Irum Jahangir, who had conducted the identification parade of the accused and his confessional statement, submitted that the accused had given the statement voluntarily.
Sabir Waseem, the Aalmi worker, has been charged with launching an anti-tank rocket (BM-107) that had pierced through the wall of the commerce college on Dr. Ziauddin Ahmed Road on Nov 23, 2001.
Defence counsel Amir Mansoob Qureshi sought time for a cross-examination the prosecution witness.
The judge fixed Thursday for the next hearing.
According to the prosecution, Waseem, with his absconding accomplice, Asif Ramzi, reached near the college to fire the rocket to target Americans staying at the second and third floors of Sheraton Hotel.
It was alleged that the two Aalmi men, carrying the rocket and its locally-made launcher in a kit bag, arrived at the hotel on a motorbike around 9:30pm. The two positioned the launcher on the pushcart of a junk vendor. While accused Waseem was still trying to position the launcher to the hotel, the rocket, due to a short-circuit, hit the wall of the college. It landed in a classroom making an eight-inch hole in the wall.
According to the bomb disposal squad, the device was an anti-tank rocket, weighing 25 kilograms with 10 to 12 kgs of explosive material.
FIRING CASE: Judge Aley Maqbool Rizvi of the ATC-1 adjourned the hearing of a case pertaining to an attack on a prisoners’ van.
Three workers of the banned SSP — Faisal Pehlawan, Sabir Waseem and Nazar Hussain — have been charged with the attack that had killed two people, including a constable, Shakil.
The prisoners’ van, carrying some sectarian workers, was ambushed on Feb 28, 2002, near Bohra Pir within the limits of Nabi Bux police.
The judge fixed Thursday for the next hearing after the statement of judicial magistrate Irum Jahangir.
FRENCHMEN’s KILLING: An anti-terrorism court put off on Wednesday the hearing of the Frenchmen killing case after the appointment of a counsel for absconding accused on state expenses.
Judge Feroz Mehmood Bhatti of the ATC-2, who is conducting the trial inside the Central Prison, fixed March 27 for indictment of the two accused, Mohammed Asif Zaheer and Rizwanullah.
The accused, who were allegedly trained in a camp belonging to the Harkat Jihad-i-Islami in Afghanistan, have been charged with the bomb blast near Sheraton Hotel.
