RAWALPINDI, April 20: An Anti-Terrorism Court indicted on Wednesday former chief cleric of Lal Masjid Maulana Abdul Aziz and 20 other people for killing a Rangers soldier during the military operation in 2007.

ATC-I Special Judge Malik Mohammad Akram Awan indicted the accused, including the wife and a daughter of Maulana Aziz, and asked the prosecution to present its witnesses on May 3.

All the accused, including Humaira Ghazi, wife of slain Abdul Rasheed Ghazi, Um-i-Hasaan, wife of Maulana Aziz, and their daughter Tayyaba Dua, pleaded not guilty.

The Aabpara police said in the case registered on July 7, 2007, that about 1,000 armed men came out of the mosque and Maulana Aziz ordered them to attack police and Rangers personnel and kill them.

A shootout between the security personnel and the attackers led to the murder of Lance Naik Mubarak Hussain and killing of nine 'assailants'.

Police said the three women of the family led a group of 500 students of Jamia Hafsa in an attack on nearby government buildings and set on fire the office of the environment ministry and a children's library.

Maulana Aziz and other people faced 20 criminal cases related to the Lal Masjid incident. The ATC has either acquitted the accused or dropped terrorism charges against them in other cases.