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KARACHI, April 30: An anti-terrorism court acquitted on Wednesday chief of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and two others in the Shaukat Mirza murder case.
Judge Khan Pervaiz Chang, who pronounced the judgment around 6pm inside the Central Prison, Karachi, exonerated Akram Lahori, Mohammed Azam and Ataullah from the charges, giving them benefit of doubt.
The Lashkar men, represented by M. R. Syed, were prosecuted for killing the managing director of the Pakistan State Oil on July 26, 2001, within the limits of Frere police.
The court had reserved the judgment on April 26 after hearing the final arguments by the special public prosecutor, Maula Bux Bhatti, and the defence counsel.
Lahori and his alleged associates were sentenced on last Saturday to death by the ATC-5 in two separate murder cases.
The police have, so far, submitted charge-sheets in as many as 17 cases against Lashkar men, who are stated to be involved in over 30 sectarian murder cases in Karachi alone.
JUDGMENT RESERVED: Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the ATC-3 reserved on Wednesday the judgment in a murder case against a worker of the banned Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan.
The case against accused Imran Islam pertained to the killing of Shamim Raza, a sanitary inspector, on April 28, 2001, within the limits of the Orangi police.
The judge fixed May 3 for pronouncement of the verdict after hearing the final arguments from special public prosecutor Naimat Ali Randhawa and defence counsel Maqboolur Rahman.
The prosecution examined in all eight prosecution witnesses, who also included an eye-witness.
The judge had earlier on March 19 discharged the same case against the president and the general secretary of the banned Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan for want of incriminating evidence.
Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the ATC-3 had ordered the police to drop the names of Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Nadeem and Maulana Engineer Ilyas Zubair from the final charge-sheet after the investigation officer told him that there was no evidence against the two.
