KARACHI, Nov 1: An anti-terrorism court put off on Friday the hearing of a case against five workers of the Harkatul Mujahideen Al-Aalmi after the prosecution closed its side.

Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the ATC-3 fixed Saturday for recording the statements of the accused, Nawab Khiyam Sarhadi, Zakir, Imran, Aminuddin and Mohammed Asif, being tried for creating sectarian hatred under the Anti- terrorism Act.

According to the prosecution, the five Aalmi workers were arrested on Sept 10 at a desolate place in the former district West by the Orangi Town police on a tip-off. The raiding party also claimed to have recovered objectionable material and unlicensed weapons from them.

Special public prosecutor Naimat Ali Randhawa examined a total of three prosecution witnesses, including the investigation officer, in the case, registered initially under section 6 (f) of 7 (A) of the AT Act, which pertains to creating terror.

However, later police charge-sheeted them under section 8 (d) for possessing objectionable printed material, allegedly aimed at creating sectarian hatred.

The SHO of Orangi Town police station, Syed Ali Haider Shah, appeared as first prosecution witness on Thursday. The other two, examined on Friday, were Arshad Mehmood, a taxi driver, who had witnessed the arrest of the accused, and the IO of the case, Inspector Irshad Ahmed Sohail.

The prosecution witnesses were also cross-examined by the defence counsel, Khawaja Naveed, Raja Bashir and Amjad Ali.

CONVICTED: An additional district and sessions judge, Central, Ghulam Qadir Leghari, sentenced a man to four years’ rigorous imprisonment for committing sodomy with a young boy.

Pervaiz Husain Shah, arrested in 1998 by the Buffer Zone police, was also fined Rs10,000. He would have to undergo an additional five months’ RI if he failed to pay the fine.