KARACHI, April 8 An anti-terrorism court recorded on Wednesday the statement of a judicial magistrate in a case pertaining to the killing of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal leader Allama Hassan Turabi and his nephew in a suicide attack in July 2006.

Sultan Mahmood alias Saifullah, Mohammad Amin alias Khalid Shaheen, Mohammad Akbar Khan, Mohammad Rehman alias Mani, Ashfaq Qureshi and Raheemullah alias Naeem alias Ali Hasan, stated to be activists of banned militant outfits, have been charged with organising the suicide attack on the MMA leader.

The judicial magistrate, Pervez Qadir Memon, stated that the investigation officer produced the accused before his court for an identification parade and he conducted the parade after completing legal formalities. In the parade, eyewitness Mohammad Yaqoob identified three accused, Mohammad Amin, Sultan Mahmood and Mohammad Rehman.

The JM further deposed that he had also recorded the confessional statements, under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code, of Mohammad Amin, Sultan Mahmood and Mohammad Rehman. He added that a prosecution witness, Mohammad Saleem, was produced in the court to record his statement under Section 164 of CrPC against accused Ashfaq Qureshi. However, the witness did not depose against the accused by stating that he (accused) was a stranger to him, the JM concluded.

While cross-examining the judicial magistrate, defence counsel Maqbool-ur-Rehman, Waheed Katpar and Nasir Mughal challenged the legality of the identification parade and confessional statements of three accused, and raised many objections.

The Sindh chief of the Tehrik-i-Islami and provincial vice-president of the MMA, Allama Hasan Turabi, and his young nephew, Ali Imran, were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the religious leader's Gulshan-i-Iqbal residence on July 14, 2006. The victims were returning from an anti-Israel demonstration organised by the six-party alliance. Three police guards, and a woman were also wounded in the attack. The alleged suicide bomber was later identified as Abdul Karim.

The accused were also charged with planting a remote-controlled bomb in a cart on April 6, 2006 with the intention to kill Allama Turbi when he was travelling on Abul Hasan Ispahani Road in the Mubina Town police limits. However, he escaped unhurt.

A case was registered under sections 302, 324, 427, 109, 120/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 3/5 of the Explosive Substance Act, read with Section 7 of the Anti-terrorism Act, 1997, at the Sachal police station on the complaint of Shafaat Hussain. The second case was lodged under sections 324, 427, 109, 120/34 of the PPC and Section 3/5 of the Explosive Substance Act, read with Section 7 of the ATA, on the complaint of Mohammad Ali Shah.

The judge, Abdul Ghafoor Memon of the ATC-II, who is jointly conducting the trial of both cases inside the Central Prison, Karachi, adjourned the hearing till Thursday.

Nishtar Park carnage case

The same court on Wednesday deferred the indictment of four accused in a case pertaining to the Nishtar Park blast that had killed more than 50 people, including several religious leaders, and injured over 100.

Defence counsel Mushtaq Ahmed requested the court to defer the indictment and filed an application under sections 265-C and 94 of the Criminal Procedure Code seeking copies of the confessional statement of accused Rahmatuallh, the statement of a witness recorded under Section 164 of CrPC, memorandums of the identification parade, statements of witnesses recorded by a tribunal and compact disc recording of the incident. However, the court fixed the application for hearing on Thursday.

The FIR (71/06) of the case was registered under sections 302, 324, 109, 120-B, 114/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code and section ¾ of the Explosive Act, read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, at the Soldier Bazar police station.

The police had arrested Sultan alias Mahmood, Rahmatuallh, Mohammad Amin and Mufti Zakir Hussain Siddiqui for their alleged involvement in the case. Mohammad Khalid, Qari Abid and Mohammad Sadiq were declared absconders.