Saad Aziz denies attack on Debra Lobo

ATC reserves verdict in case

KARACHI: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) reserved its verdict after Saad Aziz, believed to be the mastermind behind the Safoora attack, denied attacking American educationist Debra Lobo.

The hearing of the case was held on Wednesday. Aziz, who was affiliated with the banned alQaeda, denied involvement in the incident. The suspect gave a statement that he has no links with any party or organisation and does not even know about Lobo. He alleged that officials in plainclothes picked him up from his home on May 18, 2015 even though the police claimed his arrest on May 19.

"My arrest was shown in a fake police encounter in Gulshan-e-Maymar on May 20,” he said, adding that 15 days later an identification parade was carried out in front of a man named Javed. “After my arrest, Javed kept coming to the Counter-Terrorism Department office in Civil Lines area," said Aziz. He claimed that Javed was shown his face before the identification parade.



The court, after recording Aziz’s statement, reserved its judgment.

On the previous hearing, Lobo had refused to identify the suspect. According to the police, the criminal had attacked Lobo along with his accomplices in April 2015. Lobo, an American citizen, is the vice-principal of Jinnah Medical and Dental College. She suffered bullet injuries to her hand and face in the attack.