KARACHI, Sept 27 An additional district and sessions court on Saturday again issued non-bailable warrants for the arrest of a former chairman of the National Accountability Bureau and others in a case pertaining to an attempt on the life of PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari, now the President of Pakistan, in 1999.

The judge issuing the warrants had previously directed the police to arrest the former chairman of NAB, Saifur Rehman Khan, his brother, Mujibur Rehman Khan, a former inspector-general of police, Rana Maqbool, a former DIG, Farooq Amin Qureshi, and a former superintendent of the central prison, Najaf Mirza and produce them in court on Sept 27.

However, DSP Sultan Khan, on behalf of his superiors, submitted a report, stating that the warrants could not be executed as two of the accused were abroad while the remaining had gone in hiding. The police were finding it difficult to track down the accused, he stated while seeking more time from the court.Judge Irfan Hussain Siddiqui, who is conducting the trial, refused to accept the report and warned the DSP that his arrest warrants could be issued for misleading the court. Meanwhile, the public prosecutor requested the court to order the IG or DIG investigation to arrest the accused as it was a difficult task for an officer of DSP rank to arrest his superiors.

The judge accepted the plea, issued the non-bailable warrants for eighth time and directed the DIG investigation to appear in person before the court on Sept 30. In case of non-compliance, he said, the accused would be declared as absconders.

According to the prosecution, the accused had “unlawfully” obtained the physical custody of Mr Zardari from an anti-terrorism court on the night between May 15, 1999 and 16, 1999 and took him to the CIA Centre, where they tortured and forced him to record incriminatory statements.

Mr Zardari suffered injuries to his tongue and other parts of his body due to the torture while the police refused to register an FIR against the police officials, attributing the incident to his bid to commit suicide instead, it added.

Gang-rape case

Meanwhile, the same court recorded arguments on a bail application and reserved the order till Sept 29.

Shaban Sheikh, the accused in a gang-rape case, had earlier moved the bail application through his counsel in court.

The defence counsel said his client was implicated in the case since the first information report of the case was registered after a delay of nine days. Requesting the court to grant him bail, the counsel said the accused had been behind the bars for the last one year.

The public prosecutor arguing that the plea was not on the merit said the victim's family had nominated the accused in the FIR. He said that the Sindh High Court and a sessions court had already rejected the bail applications of the accused.

According to the prosecution, 13-year-old Kainat Soomro was gang-raped by around four men in the Mehar Village of Dadu after being kidnapped from her home last year.

The police arrested Shaban Sheikh, Sheikh Ashan, Roshan and Aleem for their alleged involvement in the case.

Initially, the case was tried in a sessions court of Dadu. However, the high court transferred the case to a sessions court in Karachi since Ghulam Nabi Soomro, the father of the victim, moved an application to court, maintaining that his daughter and family members were given threats by the respondents/accused and it was very difficult for them to pursue the case in Dadu.