KARACHI, Jan 6: Judge Ghulam Ali Samtio of the ATC-1 put off on Saturday hearing of the conspiracy case against three top leaders of the banned Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Aalmi on the request of the special public prosecutor.
The judge fixed January 12 for the next hearing after prosecutor Naimat Ali Randhawa informed the court that the home department had appointed a two-member team of special public prosecutors for the trial.
On the court directive, the special public prosecutor submitted that a copy of the notification regarding the appointment of the prosecutors would be placed on record on Monday.
Naimat Ali Randhawa told Dawn that he went to the home department on the direction of the court and he learnt that a two-member team of special public prosecutors, headed by him, was constituted by the home department.
He said the notification would be issued by the chief prosecutor criminal services, Sindh, on Monday. The other member of the prosecutors’ team was special public prosecutor Mazhar Qayyum, he added.
Aalmi chief Mohammed Imran, his deputy Mohammed Hanif, finance secretary Mohammed Ashraf, and workers Waseem Akhtar and Sharib, have been charged with hatching a conspiracy to blow up the president’s motorcade in Airport police limits in April 2002.
The Harkat leaders were sentenced to a 10-year term on Oct 18, 2003 by the then ATC-1 Judge, Aley Maqbool Rizvi, for hatching a plot to kill President Pervez Musharraf.
However, the Sindh High Court set aside the trial court’s judgment on an appeal by the convicts and referred back the case to the ATC for retrial.
Later, Judge Samtio acquitted a co-accused, Naveedul Hassan, who was earlier declared an absconder in the instant case.
It was alleged that a Suzuki pick-up, loaded with explosives, was parked near a shop at Falaknaz Arcade on Sharea Faisal and the absconding accused Kamran had the remote control to blow up the explosives at the time of the arrival of the president’s motorcade.
Kamran, who had positioned himself at a petrol pump near the Star Gate on Sharea Faisal, allegedly pushed the remote control button several times but the vehicle did not blow up. It was alleged that Naveed had assembled the explosive device and its remote control.
According to the prosecution, later, the accused used the same explosive-laden vehicle in the US consulate bombing.
It was alleged that Habibullah Khattak, who was given Rs400,000 by the Aalmi leaders, brought explosives and other weapons in a truck from the upcountry.
BLAST CASE: Judge Saghir Hussain Zaidi of the ATC-3 put off the hearing of the Madinatul Ilm mosque bomb blast case.
The judge fixed January 9 for the examination of the tapadar, who had prepared the sketch of the blast site, on the request of special public prosecutor Mazhar Qayyum.
Mohammad Tehseen alias Arshad and Mohammad Altaf alias Mufti are being tried for their alleged involvement in the suicide bombing at the Imambargah in Gulshan-i-Iqbal which left three persons, including a police head constable dead and more than 22 others wounded on May 30, 2005.
Asif was killed by police when he came with other co-accused for the attack while the alleged suicide bomber managed to enter the Imambargah and blew himself up.
Tehseen alias Arshad was arrested by the police in an injured condition after a shootout. He led police to the arrest of Altaf in Gulistan-i-Jauhar.