KARACHI, Sept 28: An anti-terrorism court adjourned on Wednesday the hearing of the corps commander’s convoy attack case against 11 workers of the banned Jundullah group after recording the statement of an eye-witness.
Judge Feroze Mehmood Bhatti of the ATC-2 fixed Oct 1 for the next hearing after the deposition of Havildar Abdur Rasheed, who was also cross-examined by defence counsel M. R. Syed and Mushtaq Ahmed.
The prosecution witness deposed that he along with others members of the corps commander’s escort left from his unit for the residence of the corps commander around 8:20am. He said his party reached the corps commander’s residence around 8:30am.
The havildar stated that the convoy was attacked from the front and the left side near the Clifton Bridge around 8:40am. He said six army personnel and some civilians were killed in the attack. He said he saw accused Mohammed Shoaib Siddiqui and Shahzad Mukhtar opening fire on the convoy.
The prosecution witness submitted that he had identified the two accused on June 22, 2004, during an identification parade before a judicial magistrate in the Judicial Complex.
During cross-examination, the prosecution witness stated that the magistrate had changed the set of dummies during the identification parades of the two accused. The prosecution, represented by Iqtidar Ali Hashmi and Maula Bux Bhatti, has, so far, examined 24 prosecution witnesses.
Ataur Rehman alias Ibrahim, Shahzad Ahmed Bajwah, Yaqoob Saeed, Uzair Ahmed, Shoiab Siddiqui, Danish Inam, Najeebullah, Khurrum Saifullah, Shahzad Mukhtar, Khalid Rao and Adnan Shah alias Tipu have been charged with a series of offences, including attack on the motorcade of Lt-Gen Ahsan Saleem Hayat on June 10 last year on the old Clifton bridge, which resulted in the death of six army personnel, three policemen and a passerby.
Mohammed Qasim, Maaz, Shahab, Bilal, Tayyeb, Hammad and Fasih have been declared absconders.
JUDGMENT DEFERRED: An accountability court deferred the judgment in Rs167 million corruption reference against former chief of the Pakistan Steel and three others.
Judge Parkash Lal Ambwani of the AC-4 fixed Sept 30 for the pronouncement of verdict.
Former PSM chairman Usman Farooqui, former deputy general manager of PSM A. H. Askari, and contractors Khawaja Qadeer and Khawaja Naseer have been charged with causing a loss of Rs167 million to the national exchequer.
The former PSM chief is an absconding accused in the case. Accused Askari is in custody, while the two contractors are on bail.
BAIL GRANTED: The additional district and sessions judge, East, Ms Kauser Sultana, granted bail to a woman and her young daughter, who were booked and arrested for burning a woman. The judge gave Quraishia Bibi and her daughter Abida Begum bail in the sum of Rs100,000 each.
The two women were booked and arrested on July 6 by the Korangi police for burning and injuring Mehnaz, who was the daughter-in-law of Quraishia Bibi.