ATC questions police failure to nab absconders
Pasban leader Usman Moazzam, already in custody, arrested in Dr Asim case
Dr Asim Hussain. PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI:
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Friday was irked at the police’s failure to arrest leaders of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), who, along with Dr Asim Hussain, are accused of harbouring and treating terrorists.
“They [accused] are appearing on TV channels every day and you are showing them as absconders,” the judge told the investigation officer (IO) DSP Altaf Hussain, when he filed the report on the execution of non-bailable warrants issued earlier.
Several MQM leaders, including the party’s mayoral nominee Wasim Akhtar, a PPP leader and Pasban-e-Pakistan general secretary have been accused of asking Dr Asim, in his capacity as head of Ziauddin hospitals, to treat on discounted rates militants injured in encounters with law enforcers and to shelter them.
On Friday, the IO informed the court that one of the absconders, Pasban’s Usman Moazzam, has been arrested in connection with the case. Moazzam was already in police custody for a different case.
The IO further stated that while MQM’s Rauf Siddiqui has already been granted bail, Qaimkhani and Shahzad are out of the country and hence cannot be arrested. He admitted that efforts to arrest the remaining accused have not been successful.
At the hearing, the police also produced Dr Asim, who is presently in custody of the National Accountability Bureau on physical remand from an accountability court in a corruption inquiry.
The court also provided statements of witnesses and other prosecution documents to Dr Asim and Siddiqui, as required under Section 265-C of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
However, the court again came down hard on the IO for not including the name of Dr Yusuf Sattar, the then chief operating officer of Ziauddin Hospital and key prosecution witness who had deposed against Dr Asim and others before a magistrate, in the list of prosecution witnesses.
On Friday, the judge expressed annoyance over the police’s failure to produce the absconders despite their known presence and issuance of arrest warrants at the last hearing. He observed that some absconders are appearing on TV channels but the IO had reported that they are absconding and were out of his reach. Re-issuing the non-bailable warrants for their arrest, the ATC ordered the IO to produce them in court on January 19.
Dr Asim, chairperson of the Sindh Higher Education Commission and a close aide of former president Asif Ali Zardari, is facing charges of abetting and harbouring terrorists at his family-owned Ziauddin hospitals in Karachi.
After spending 90 days in the custody of the Sindh Rangers, who detained him on August 26 after lodging a case, he was handed over to the Karachi police for further interrogation.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 9th, 2016.
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Friday was irked at the police’s failure to arrest leaders of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), who, along with Dr Asim Hussain, are accused of harbouring and treating terrorists.
“They [accused] are appearing on TV channels every day and you are showing them as absconders,” the judge told the investigation officer (IO) DSP Altaf Hussain, when he filed the report on the execution of non-bailable warrants issued earlier.
Several MQM leaders, including the party’s mayoral nominee Wasim Akhtar, a PPP leader and Pasban-e-Pakistan general secretary have been accused of asking Dr Asim, in his capacity as head of Ziauddin hospitals, to treat on discounted rates militants injured in encounters with law enforcers and to shelter them.
On Friday, the IO informed the court that one of the absconders, Pasban’s Usman Moazzam, has been arrested in connection with the case. Moazzam was already in police custody for a different case.
The IO further stated that while MQM’s Rauf Siddiqui has already been granted bail, Qaimkhani and Shahzad are out of the country and hence cannot be arrested. He admitted that efforts to arrest the remaining accused have not been successful.
At the hearing, the police also produced Dr Asim, who is presently in custody of the National Accountability Bureau on physical remand from an accountability court in a corruption inquiry.
The court also provided statements of witnesses and other prosecution documents to Dr Asim and Siddiqui, as required under Section 265-C of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
However, the court again came down hard on the IO for not including the name of Dr Yusuf Sattar, the then chief operating officer of Ziauddin Hospital and key prosecution witness who had deposed against Dr Asim and others before a magistrate, in the list of prosecution witnesses.
On Friday, the judge expressed annoyance over the police’s failure to produce the absconders despite their known presence and issuance of arrest warrants at the last hearing. He observed that some absconders are appearing on TV channels but the IO had reported that they are absconding and were out of his reach. Re-issuing the non-bailable warrants for their arrest, the ATC ordered the IO to produce them in court on January 19.
Dr Asim, chairperson of the Sindh Higher Education Commission and a close aide of former president Asif Ali Zardari, is facing charges of abetting and harbouring terrorists at his family-owned Ziauddin hospitals in Karachi.
After spending 90 days in the custody of the Sindh Rangers, who detained him on August 26 after lodging a case, he was handed over to the Karachi police for further interrogation.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 9th, 2016.