In cold storage: Ashura blast case goes to ‘dormant file’

KARACHI:

The 2009 Ashura bomb blast is one of the many other cases that are pending adjudication due to the failure of the investigators to trace the two prime accused who had escaped from their custody.

This case has since been assigned to, what they call, ‘dormant file’ after the investigators declared that the two accused were untraceable.

This was stated in a report submitted by the Sindh Prosecutor General, Shahadat Awan, to the Supreme Court’s Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, who is tasked with the monitoring of the Anti-Terrorism Courts. As many 42 people were killed and 122 others injured in a powerful blast that took place during a Muharram procession on the M. A. Jinnah Road on December 28, 2009.  The report said that the two suspects -- Muhammad Shukaib alias Adil and Murtaza alias Imran alias Abbas alias Shakeel -- who were arrested by Maripur and Sir Syed police, had confessed their involvement in the bomb blast.

They were also recognised by the witnesses during identification parade conducted by a judicial magistrate. These accused, including Haider, were finally charged sheeted by the police. On June 19, 2010, however, they managed to escape from the police custody when they were taken to the City Courts for production in another case registered against them by Anti-Car Lifting Cell of the Gizri police station.

“According to the investigation officer, the accused were involved in seven cases and the Joint Investigation Team had recorded criminal history of each case,” the report stated.  According to the report, since the accused were reported ‘untraceable’, the trial court, the Anti-Terrorism Court III, had completed the proceedings under Sections 87 and 88 of the Criminal Procedure Code on October 07, 2010. Finally, the case was assigned to the ‘dormant file’ and since then the matter was on that stage, the report concluded.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 8^th, 2012.