ATC orders contempt of court proceedings against prosecutors

Sends two men accused of planning terror attack on physical remand

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) ordered on Thursday the initiation of contempt of court proceedings against Sindh prosecutor general Faiz Shah and two public prosecutors after they failed to appear before the court despite being summoned in cases pertaining to extortion.

During a hearing at Karachi Central Jail, the court stated that it had sought arguments from the prosecutor general two public prosecutors on the inclusion of sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 in extortion cases.

Irked by the absence, the court remarked that neither the prosecutor general appeared before the court, nor did any of the prosecutors gave their arguments, while notices issued to them were ignored.

This falls under the contempt of court, it stated, adding that process to declare the prosecutor general an absconder be initiated through the ATC’s registrar.

The court further ruled that two public prosecutors would be indicted at the next hearing on January 5, ordering each of them to submit a surety amount of Rs10,000 for bails.

Physical remand

At another hearing, the court handed over two accused affiliated with banned outfit Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army to the Ittehad Town police on a physical remand.

The police produced the two accused, Sohail Ahmed Bhutto and Bachal, in the court, where the investigating officer (IO) maintained that the accused were planning to carry out a terrorist attack in the city on December 25.

The IO requested that the accused be sent on a physical remand for further interrogation.

The court accepted the request and sent the accused on a physical remand till December 30, also seeking a progress report of the case at the next hearing.

The accused were arrested from Ittehad Town and six kilogrammes of explosives, a hand grenade and weapons were found in their possession.

According to the police, the Indian intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), was operating the network with which the accused were affiliated in the city. They had that the accused were in contact with RAW and involved in hand grenade attacks on law enforcement agencies in Ghotki and a school in Larkana.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25^th, 2020.