Hearing put off as defendant’s attorneys fail to turn up in court

Karachi
An anti-terrorism court put off on Saturday the hearing in the Suleman Lashari murder case till August 8 as the defendant’s attorneys did not appear before it and the statements of the seven witnesses present there could not be recorded.
The judge of the ATC-III observed that the constant disappearance of the defendant’s attorneys was delaying the recording of the witnesses’ statements and the conclusion of the trial.
The judge further noted that the high court had already issued directives to expedite the hearing of the case.
The judge warned that the attorneys must appear before the court on the day of the next hearing.
Advocate Muhammad Khan Buriro and Advocate Mubashir Mirza are representing the complainant, Zeeshan Mustafa, Lashari’s brother, in the case. The two attorneys, along with seven witnesses, were present in the court.
Lashari and a police guard, Zaheer, were murdered in Defence on May 8 last year.
The prosecution says that 18-year-old O-levels student Lashari was killed by Salman Abro and his four police guards, Maqbool Brohi, Rashid Gujjar, Yaseen and Imran Ali.
Lashari’s brother had registered a case with the Darakhshan police station against the five men.
The court has already rejected the plea of Salman Abro, the main accused, to transfer the case from ATC to a regular court.
Abro had argued that as it was not a case that involved terrorism, the imposition of Section 7 of Anti-terrorism Act, 1997 had no justification.
A charge sheet has already been accepted and charges against the five detained men have been framed in the ATC-III headed by Saleem Raza Baloch.
Abro’s attorneys had moved two applications challenging the status of framing charges and perfect examination of the crime scene but they were dismissed.
The attorneys had claimed that the framing of charges was in violation of some legal provisions, but the court, after hearing an exhaustive argument of the attorneys, had rejected their stance.
The court had also not found any legal worth to revisit and reexamine the crime scene and rejected the application.