KARACHI: An antiterrorism court issued on Thursday non-bailable warrants for the arrest of 11 absconders, including an arms dealer, in the Safoora Goth bus carnage case.

Tahir Hussain Minhas, alias Sain; Saad Aziz, alias Tin Tin and Asad-ur-Rehman, alias Malik, have been chargesheeted for their direct involvement in the case and Hafiz Nasir, alias Yasir and Mohammad Azhar Ishrat, alias Majid, were named for allegedly providing accommodation, funds and reconnaissance to the main suspects while Fishermen Cooperative Society vice-chairman Sultan Qamar Siddiqui, his brother Hussain Umar Siddiqui and Sajid Naeem were nominated for allegedly providing weapons to the assailants.

The police had submitted a final investigation report on Nov 23 in which all the eight detained suspects were chargesheeted while Zahid Motiwala, owner of an arms shop in Defence Housing Authority, Hafiz Mohammad Umer, alias Jawad; Ali Rehman, alias Toona; Tayyab; Mehmood; Abdullah Mansoor; Mistari Pathan; Dawood; Abdullah Bin Yousuf, alias Abdul Aziz, and two unidentified Pakhtun origin men were shown as absconders.

Initially, the court had declined to admit the final report since it was submitted without the scrutiny of the prosecutor as two special public prosecutors had dissociated themselves from the case and the court was informed that their resignations were still pending.

Later, the regular prosecutor of the ATC-VI scrutinised the report and submitted it in court after the authorities concerned directed him to plead the case.

On Thursday, the ATC-VI issued non-bailable warrants against the absconding accused and directed the police to arrest them and produce till Dec 8.

Around 45 Shia Ismaili community members, including 18 women, were killed and eight others sustained wounds in an armed attack on their bus near Safoora Goth on May 13.

Man sentenced to 28 years in illegal arms cases

An antiterrorism court sentenced on Thursday a convict to a collective sentence of 28 years in explosive material and illicit weapon cases.

Shan Ahmed, alias Shani, was found guilty of carrying an unlicensed pistol and a hand grenade on Manghopir Road in January last year.

The ATC-V judge, Mohammad Javed Alam, handed down 14 years imprisonment in each case and also imposed a fine of Rs30,000.

In case of non-payment, the convict would undergo an additional three-month imprisonment. However, both sentences would run concurrently.

Two remanded

An anticorruption court remanded on Thursday two employees of a government hospital in the custody of anti-corruption police in a graft case till Dec 7.

The investigating officer produced in court Khursheed Habib and Ghulam Akbar, storekeepers of the Lyari General Hospital, following their arrest on the allegations of misappropriation of drugs and keeping outdated medicine.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2015