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KARACHI, April 21: The chief of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and his two alleged associates who are being tried in a sectarian double-murder case denied on Monday their involvement in the incident.
Recording their statements before Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the anti- terrorism court No 5, the three accused, Akram Lahori, Mohammed Azam and Ataullah, said they were innocent and they had been implicated in the case by the police.
They also said the prosecution witnesses had deposed against them because they belonged to the rival sect.
The judge, who is conducting the trial inside the Central Jail Karachi, fixed Wednesday for hearing the final arguments from the prosecution and the defence.
The case against Lahori and co-accused, Ataullah and Mohammed Azam, pertained to the killing of Anver Tirmizi and Zulfiqar Haider in an attack on March 11 last year in the police limits of Shah Faisal.
The prosecution examined a total of 13 witnesses, including three eye- witnesses, against the accused. The brother of deceased Tirmizi was one of the eyewitnesses, who identified the three accused in the trial court during their depositions.
KIDNAPPING CASE: Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the ATC-3 fixed Tuesday for hearing the final arguments in a kidnapping for ransom case against a juvenile accused after recording his statement.
The judge, who had sentenced two accused to death in the same case in November last year, recorded the statement of Bashir Ahmed, whose case was separated from the two other accused due to his being under age.
The three accused, along with an absconder, kidnapped a boy for ransom while he was playing outside his house in Gulshan-i-Iqbal.
KILLINGS CASE: The Frenchmen killing case against two accused could not proceed on Monday as there was no courtroom available in the Central Prison.
Judge Feroz Mehmood Bhatti, who waited till 3pm to have the only courtroom vacant, fixed Tuesday for the next hearing.
Mohammed Asif Zaheer and Rizwanullah, who were allegedly trained in a camp belonging to the Harkat Jihad-i-Islami in Afghanistan, are facing charges of killing 11 French naval engineers and two Pakistanis in a suicide bomb attack last year.
The French engineers, who were helping Pakistan build its Agosta 90-B submarine, were killed when an explosives-laden vehicle rammed into their bus outside Sheraton hotel.
The courtroom was first occupied by Judge Aley Maqbool Rizvi of the ATC-1, who also adjourned a case against three workers of the banned Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan as one of the defence counsel did not turn up. He fixed Thursday for the next hearing.
Later, an additional district and sessions judge, Salim Jan Mazari, held his court in the courtroom.
CASE DEFERRED: Syed Aley Maqbool Rizvi of the anti-terrorism court No I on Monday again deferred framing of charges against the accused in the conspiracy case to kill Gen Pervez Musharraf to Thursday, adds APP.
Mohammed Haneef, Mohammed Imran, Hafiz Zubair, Mohammed Ashraf Khan and Inspector Waseem Akhtar of the rangers are accused in the case.
When the proceedings began on Monday, Sharib, one of the accused, informed the judge that he had yet to engage a counsel for his defence upon which the court put off further proceedings to April 24, when the accused would be formally indicted.
According to the prosecution, the accused parked a jeep on Sharea Faisal through which Gen Pervez Musharraf was to pass on 27-4-2002. FIR was lodged on 8-7-2002.
The vehicle was loaded with explosives and was fitted to a remote-controlled device through which the explosives were to be detonated.
The device developed fault and so the explosives could not be detonated.
The rangers personnel was accused of providing information about the movement of the President to the accused, who are alleged to be the chief, deputy chief and finance secretary of the Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Aalmi.
The accused were booked by the Airport police under sections 120-A, 120 B and 324 of PPC and section 7 (B) of the Anti-terrorism Act.
