An anti-terrorism court (ATC) indicted Saeed alias Saeed Bharam, a worker of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), on Friday in the murder case of a Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi activist.
Saeed pleaded not guilty. The court directed the investigation officer (IO) and prosecution witnesses to appear on January 7 to record their statements.
MQM-Haqiqi activist Syed Abrar Hussain was killed on October 1, 2009, in the Nabi Bukhsh police jurisdiction.
Co-accused Tahir alias Tahir Lamba (who is also alleged to have worked for the Indian spy agency RAW) and Haider Guddi are absconding and have been declared pro-claimed offenders.
The police suspected that Hussain was killed on the directives of the MQM’s top leadership.
Saeed is booked in over 50 cases pertaining charges of target killings and land grabbing.
He is accused of killing another Haqiqi worker in Lines Area, and the investigation officer asked the court to extend his physical remand for further investigations.
According to a JIT report presented to the court at the previous hearing, Saeed had revealed that around 13 hitmen had fled Karachi after the operation began and that he knew of over 34 MQM workers who had received training from RAW.
Believed to have fled to Dubai at the onset of the Karachi operation in 2013, the accused was arrested with the help of Interpol in Dubai and brought to Karachi on March 22, where his 90-day preventive detention was endorsed.
Responding to anti-terrorism court’s administrative judge Justice Farooq Shah’s query with respect to his political affiliation, Saeed claimed that he had been a part of the MQM years ago but had no connection with the party anymore.
His brother, Arfeen, was also reported to have been arrested; their mother has said her sons are innocent.
Saeed was alleged to have been running a network of criminals from South Africa and Dubai.
The accused was also nominated in the murder of the deputy superintendent of the central prison, Amanullah Khan Niazi, his driver Akhtar Hasan and other policemen in 2006. Co-accused Ubaidur Rehman alias Ubaid K2, Irfan alias Urfi, Faisal and Nadir Shah were arrested during a raid on the MQM headquarters in March 2015.
It was alleged that Saeed and Saulat Mirza (who was hanged in the Shahid Hamid murder case last year) were not happy with Niazi due to his strict rules.
After being let out of prison, Saeed hatched a plan along with others to kill Niazi.
He had been tried and convicted for the murders of four US workers of Union Texas and their driver in November 1997. The sentence was later set aside by the Sindh High Court in February 2003.
Terrorist jailed
Another ATC awarded 14 years’ imprisonment to a terrorist of a banned outfit for possessing explosive material.
In its judgment, the court observed that the prosecution had proved well the charges against Nawaz Khan and it was fair to award him imprisonment of 14 years. The court also ordered confiscation of the movable and immovable properties of the convict.
Khan had been arrested in Pirabad Police Station in 2013.