KARACHI, April 20: Two workers of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, being prosecuted in five separate murder cases, were given a final chance on Tuesday for appointing a defence counsel.

Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5 told accused Mohammed Azam and Ataullah that the court would appoint counsel for their defence on state expenses if they failed to hire a defence attorney till the next date of hearing on April 24.

The two accused are being tried for their involvement in the murder cases registered by the Mehmoodabad, Gizri, Korangi, Korangi Industrial Area and Soldier Bazaar police stations.

The same court put off till May 8 the hearing of a double murder case against six workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, who are being re-tried on the orders of the Sindh High Court.

The case pertained to the kidnapping and killing of two army personnel on July 27, 1998, in Liaquatabad. Salman Ilyas alias Waseem Rajoo, Sohail alias Kala Munna, Muhammed Adeel, Shafiq Arian, Irshad Kantap and Abdul Fahmid had earlier been sentenced to death by the ATC-3 for murdering Lance Naik Ahmed Yar Khan and Sepoy Mohammed Idrees of the Baloch Regiment.

The two armymen had been kidnapped near Firdous Shopping Centre around 10am when they were on their way back after visiting the relatives of one of them in Liaquatabad. Later, their bullet-riddled bodies were found in a graveyard in the same vicinity.

The prosecution had examined, in all, 16 prosecution witnesses, including three eye-witnesses. The convicts challenged the conviction in the SHC which remanded back the case to the registrar of the ATC. The SHC ordered the trial court to record the evidence of two relatives of the victim, a major and an official of the Edhi Trust.

The judge had earlier ordered the prosecution to produce the four witnesses before the court. However, the court was told that the witnesses could not have been located despite exhausted efforts.

HARKAT MEN: Judge Arshad Noor Khan of Anti-Terrorism Court on Tuesday remanded nine activists of the banned Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Alami to judicial custody and directed the police to submit chargesheets against them till April 29, adds PPI.

The accused are facing charges in a bomb blast case at the Macedonian consulate. Syed Sohail Akhtar alias Mustafa, Zafar Iqbal alias Sohail, Naeem Rafi alias Nimi, Mohammad Atif alias Kamran, Mohammad Khalid, Mahmoodullah, Abdul Razzaq alias Bhaiya, Samirullah alias Somi and Syed Ahmar Kazmi were produced before the court amid tight security.

Investigation officer on Tuesday stated that investigation of case has, so far, not been completed. However, he requested the court to remand the accused to judicial custody.

The judge, while granting the request of the IO, sent the accused to jail and ordered him to submit the chargesheet on April 29. The accused were arrested by the police two week back in raids conducted in Gulistan-i-Jauhar and Clifton areas in Karachi.

According to police, accused killed three persons - Hameed Masih, Mohammad Asif and Ms Ghazala Parveen - on Dec 5, 2002 in a blast at the consulate in DHA.