Police admit failure to arrest absconding accused Rizwan Qureshi

The anti-terrorism court (ATC) hearing the Baldia factory arson attack case examined on Tuesday a police report stating that the law enforcers had failed to arrest Rizwan Qureshi and other absconding accused.

The court housed at the central prison was informed that despite all efforts, the police had yet to arrest Qureshi, who had disclosed the facts behind the 2012 hit on Ali Enterprises, which is considered one of Pakistan’s worst industrial disasters in which 259 workers were burnt alive. Qureshi, believed to be affiliated with a political party, was in detention when he had disclosed the details of the incident to a joint investigation team in 2013. He had claimed that the factory was set on fire after its owners failed to pay “protection money” – or extortion – to some political leaders.

He is accused of seven murders and is involved in six cases of possessing illegal weapons as well as several other cases. He was arrested in June 2013 in an illegal weapon case, but after obtaining bail in some cases, he escaped.

Three other accused, namely Kashif Siddiqui, Ejaz Babu and Sohail alias Bhoora, are also in hiding. The ATC has already issued non-bailable warrants for the absconders. The court was informed on Tuesday that efforts were under way to arrest them.

 

Navy official’s murder

Another court housed in the central prison conducted a hearing of Pakistan Navy captain Nadeem Ahmed’s murder.

Saad Aziz, Tahir Hussain Minhas, Asadur Rehman, Hafiz Nasir and Muhammad Azhar Ishrat have been accused for the killing as well as the murder of police security guard Waqar Hashmi and bomb blasts.

They were also convicted by a military court for the Safoora bus attack and the murder of human rights activist Sabeen Mahmud. They were summoned by the ATC in cases pending against them.

Aziz and Minhas were produced amid heavy security arrangements before the court. The ATC issued orders for producing all the five accused before the court.

The proceedings of these cases were halted earlier due to the shifting of the cases to the military court that finally sentenced them to death in some cases and now these cases have been reopened.

 

Butcher shop robberies

Two judicial magistrates accepted the plea for physical remand of Waseem, Zubair and Khalid to the Soldier Bazaar and Gulshan-e-Iqbal police stations for their alleged involvement in robbing outlets of meat supply brands.

The three accused admitted that they were involved in more than 30 robberies between October 2015 and February 2017. After robbing the shops of cash, they also took away as much meat as they could carry.