PHOTO: FILE
A leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement - Pakistan (MQM-P), Rauf Siddiqui, appeared before the court. The officials produced suspects Rehman Bhola and Zubair Charya, known to be affiliated with MQM, among others. A total of 12 more witnesses, whose loved ones were killed in the fire, recorded their statements.
The witnesses said that they learned about the fire through the media and when they reached the spot, a large number of fire brigade vehicles were present. People burnt in the fire were being taken out of the factory. It was difficult to identify most of the bodies, said the witnesses adding that the police handed over the bodies a few days after the incident.
More than 300 witnesses have recorded their statements so far. The prosecution has submitted a list of 720 witnesses in the case.
Witness seeks protection
The murder case of Naimat Ali Randhawa, a prosecutor in Wali Khan Babar's killing case, took an interesting turn when his son, Tauqeer Randhawa, refused to identify the suspects.
The suspects, Kazim Abbas Rizvi and Noman, who are affiliated with MQM-P unit 178, appeared before the court.
Tauqeer stated that when the firing began, he ducked due to which he had not been able to see the suspects. Tauqeer said that his life was in danger and that he was receiving death threats. He requested the court for police protection.
The court ordered the additional inspector-general of police to provide security to the complainant and postponed the hearing till October 23.
The court has declared three accused absconders in the case. The absconding suspects include Azizullah, Abdullah alias Danish and Ghufran alias Sindhi.
According to the police, the suspects murdered Naimat Ali Randhawa by firing in North Nazimabad in September 2013. The son of the prosecutor had also been injured in the firing.
Sheltering terrorists
An ATC postponed the hearing of the case related to the provision of shelter to dangerous terrorists at MQM-P headquarters in Nine Zero.
MQM-P Senior Deputy Convener Amir Khan appeared before the court. The jail officials produced MQM's Minhaj Qazi and an alleged target killer, Raees Mama, in the court.
A witness in the case, the deputy superintendent of Rangers (DSR), also appeared before the court. However, his cross-examination could not be conducted due to the absence of Qazi's lawyer.
The court adjourned the hearing till November 3. In the previous hearing, the Rangers' officer had identified Amir Khan. Khan's lawyer will cross-examine the witness' statement at the next hearing.
According to the police, suspects Imran Niazi and Naeem have been declared wanted while Khan is on bail.
Anti-state literature
A police official, Khalil, recorded his statement before an ATC, in the case pertaining to the distribution of anti-state literature. MPA Shiraz Waheed, Ali Hassan, Naeem Shamshad, Danish Saeed, Syed Azhar Ali and others have been accused of distributing CDs of MQM founder's inflammatory speech in August, 2016.
All suspects appeared before the court. Khalil appeared in the court on behalf of the prosecution and recorded his statement. The court has summoned more witnesses at the next hearing on November 5.
According to the police, seven suspects, including Waheed, are on interim bail. One of the suspects, Ali, is absconding.
Recce of police
The hearing of the killing case of Superintendent of Police (SP) Chaudhry Aslam was postponed due to the absence of the witness. The suspects, Zafar alias Sain and Ubaid alias Aabi, known to be affiliated with banned organisation Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), were presented in the court.
A witness in the case who is a police officer did not appear in the court. The court adjourned the hearing. The court has already declared head of TTP, Mullah Fazlullah and Shahidullah Shahid, as wanted. The suspects were arrested by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) police. According to the police, the suspects admitted to having carried out reconnaissance of Chaudhry Aslam and being a facilitator in the attack. SP Chaudhry Aslam and his colleagues were killed in the blast on January 9, 2014.
Murdered for extortion
The court sought final arguments from the respondents at the next hearing in the case of the murder of a factory manager for not paying an extortion amount of Rs2,000.
Accused Abdul Rahim, Ahmed Hassan and Anwar Baloch were presented in the court. The witnesses, the parents of the suspect Abdul Rahim, also appeared before the court.
According to the prosecution, the parents of Abdul Rahim had identified the suspects in the previous hearing in the CCTV footage. The witnesses retracted their statement claiming that they were coerced by the police. The court, summoning the final arguments from the respondents, adjourned the hearing till October 23.
The defence lawyer had filed a request to record the statements of the parents once again. The request maintained that may be the parents had recorded the statement under pressure.
The court was requested to verify the statement before announcing its verdict. The court reserved its verdict to announce after the completion of the arguments by the respondents. According to the investigating officer, the suspects had been arrested with the help of CCTV footage. A case against the suspects was registered at Gabol police station in 2014.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 21st, 2018.
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