In court: Appeals against MQM-H acquittals adjourned
Special public prosecutor engaged to pursue case is absent.
KARACHI:
The government’s appeals against the decision to acquit Mohajir Qaumi Movement - Haqiqi (MQM-H) leaders and workers were adjourned as the special public prosecutor failed to show up to argue the cases.
On Wednesday, Sindh High Court’s Justice Sajjad Ali Shah was hearing identical appeals filed by the Sindh prosecutor general against a court verdict, which acquitted MQM-H’s Afaq Ahmed and Amir Khan, and two workers, Nizamuddin alias Kala Bacha and Ghulam Dastagir Khan, in a case of possession of illegal arms.
As the appeals came up for hearing, special public prosecutor Muhammad Ashraf Qazi, engaged especially to fight the case, failed to show up even though he had been in court earlier in the day. Justice Shah adjourned the hearing to an unspecified date.
All four men were absolved of the charges levelled against them by the prosecution. According to the state, the cases were built on the basis of alleged confessions made by Nizamuddin and Dastagir, who were arrested in some other case. During questioning, they had told the police that they had hidden a heavy cache of weapons at some place on the orders of Afaq and Amir.
During a raid, the police allegedly seized automatic weapons. The accused said that the weapons were stored for use against opponents or for acts of terrorism, said the prosecution.
Meanwhile, the prosecution’s version could not stand the test of trial and, on May 26, 2009, the additional district and sessions east-VI, judge said that the case and the alleged raid were not confidence inspiring. The police had not stuck to the rules and procedures on recovering such items and, hence, the charges against the men could not be proven by the prosecution.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 9th, 2011.
The government’s appeals against the decision to acquit Mohajir Qaumi Movement - Haqiqi (MQM-H) leaders and workers were adjourned as the special public prosecutor failed to show up to argue the cases.
On Wednesday, Sindh High Court’s Justice Sajjad Ali Shah was hearing identical appeals filed by the Sindh prosecutor general against a court verdict, which acquitted MQM-H’s Afaq Ahmed and Amir Khan, and two workers, Nizamuddin alias Kala Bacha and Ghulam Dastagir Khan, in a case of possession of illegal arms.
As the appeals came up for hearing, special public prosecutor Muhammad Ashraf Qazi, engaged especially to fight the case, failed to show up even though he had been in court earlier in the day. Justice Shah adjourned the hearing to an unspecified date.
All four men were absolved of the charges levelled against them by the prosecution. According to the state, the cases were built on the basis of alleged confessions made by Nizamuddin and Dastagir, who were arrested in some other case. During questioning, they had told the police that they had hidden a heavy cache of weapons at some place on the orders of Afaq and Amir.
During a raid, the police allegedly seized automatic weapons. The accused said that the weapons were stored for use against opponents or for acts of terrorism, said the prosecution.
Meanwhile, the prosecution’s version could not stand the test of trial and, on May 26, 2009, the additional district and sessions east-VI, judge said that the case and the alleged raid were not confidence inspiring. The police had not stuck to the rules and procedures on recovering such items and, hence, the charges against the men could not be proven by the prosecution.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 9th, 2011.