KARACHI, April 9: The Anti-terrorism Court No. 5, headed by Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch, reserved the judgement in a sectarian murder case against the chief of banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Akram Lahori, and his two alleged associates.

Lahori, Mohammed Azam and Ataullah are being tried for killing Dr. Syed Aley Safdar Zaidi of the Kidney Centre on March 4, 2002.

The doctor was on his way to the hospital from his Gizri residence when two motorcyclists opened fire on his car (ABU-495) as he stopped at a signal near Sultan Masjid. He died on the spot.

The judge, who conducted the trial inside the Central Prison, however, did not fix the date for pronouncement of the verdict and told the prosecution and the defence that they would be issued notices before the judgment.

Forwarding his final arguments, special public prosecutor, Syed Nadeem Hussain Shah, prayed the court to award capital punishment to the accused as the prosecution had “successfully” established its case against them.