CTD secures physical remand of alleged target killers

ATC awards death sentence to two convicted of murder

KARACHI: The administrative judge of the anti-terrorism courts handed over six accused for five-day physical remand to the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) police on Tuesday. The accused are charged with the targeted killings of more than 50 people and were also reportedly involved in the attack on Maulani Taqi Usmani, among others.

CTD police presented the six accused before the administrative judge of the anti-terrorism courts at the Sindh High Court (SHC). The accused were identified as Muhammad Haider alias Bacha, Syed Mehtab alias Machar, Gul Akbar alias Abdullah, Syed Haider Abbas alias police wala, Asif Raza alias Khalid and Kamran alias Pathan. The CTD police while presenting them said that they have been booked under sections of the Weapons and Explosives Act and on charges of police encounter.



The investigation officer (IO) said that the accused are being investigated in the matter of facilitating the attack on Maulana Taqi Usmani. According to police, the accused were trained in a neighbouring country and were involved in the targeted killings of more than 50 people on sectarian grounds. They were involved in several incidents including the attack on Maulana Aurangzeb Farooqi.

The court handed over the accused to the CTD police for five-day physical remand.

Murder case

An anti-terrorism court awarded the death sentence on Tuesday to two accused associated with gang wars while announcing the verdict of the case pertaining to the targeted killings of two lawyers - father and son.

Mohsin Baloch and Adid alias Kalu were sentenced to death after they were found guilty of the crimes. The court also sentenced Abid Kalu to 18-years imprisonment under sections of the Weapons Act and on charges of police encounter. According to police, 14 witnesses recorded statements against the convicts. The convicts killed advocate Salahuddin Haider and advocate Ali Raza by firing at the rickshaw they were riding in at Bakra Peeri Malir. The advocates, who were father and son, died in the attack. The case against the convicts was registered at Malir City Police Station in 2012.

Weapons case

An anti-terrorism court awarded 14-years imprisonment to an accused in a case pertaining to the recovery of weapons and explosives.

The prosecution was successful in providing sufficient evidence against Khuda-e-Nazar.

According to government lawyer, Iqbal Mayo, the police arrested the convict in 2018 in the limits of Napier Police Station. An awan bomb and other weapons were seized from his possession.

The prosecution presented four witnesses before the court who confirmed that weapons and explosives were seized from the criminal.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 17^th, 2019.