Court reissues warrants for BLA commanders in KU blast case

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court has repeated non-bailable warrants for the arrest of six absconding suspects belonging to the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army in a case pertaining to the suicide blast at the University of Karachi that killed three Chinese teachers and their local driver in April this year.

As the ATC-VXI judge, conducting trial in the judicial complex inside the central prison, resumed the hearing of the case, the sole detained suspect, Dad Bux, was produced before the court.

The court has not yet received a final charge sheet, so its copy could not be provided to the suspect. The judge told the IO to bring a police file on the next date and fixed November 29 for the supply of copy of the charge sheet to the suspect.

The investigating officer, Inspector Sanaullah Cheema, submitted a report regarding execution of the non-bailable warrants issued by the court on the last date for the arrest of the six absconding suspects.

He said the warrants could not be executed on the suspects, requesting more time to be able to serve them. The judge, accepting IO’s request, reissued non-bailable warrants with a direction to arrest the suspects and produce them before the court at the next hearing.

In the interim charge-sheet, the IO had last month charge-sheeted Shari Hayat Baloch, alias Bramash, the female suicide bomber who targeted the Chinese tutors, her husband Habitan Bashir, commanders of the banned Balochistan Liberation Army’s (BLA) Majeed Brigade and their facilitators.

Habitan, the Majeed Brigade commanders - Bashir Zeb, Captain Rehman Gul, and Khalil Ahmed, alias Waja - and a BLA man, Mir Safeer, have been shown as absconders who are said to be hiding in Afghanistan.

A person with a code name Zeb and unidentified facilitators have also been placed in the charge sheet’s column of the absconding suspects.

Dad Bux, one of the alleged facilitators, has been listed as the only accused currently in judicial custody.

He was arrested during a raid in the Mauripur road area on July 4. During interrogation, he confessed to conducting reconnaissance at the behest of BLA commander Khalil and shared information with Habitan and commander Zeb. A prosecution witness also picked out the held suspect during an identification parade before a judicial magistrate.

An FIR was lodged under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 109 (abetment), 342 (attempted murder), (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code, Sections 11-F (Membership, support and meetings relating to a Prescribed Organization), 6 (terrorist act) and 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 read with sections 3 and 4 of the Explosive Act at the Counter-Terrorism Department on behalf of the state.