Notices issued to law officers, LEAs as man acquitted in 2003 US consulate bombing case goes missing

The Sindh High Court on Monday issued notices to the federal and provincial law officers, law enforcement agencies and others on a petition against the alleged illegal detention of a man who was acquitted in the case of the US consulate bombing of 2003.

The petitioner Mohammad Raees Khan submitted in the petition that his son, Hafiz Mohammad Zubair, had been tried and convicted in the case by an anti-terrorism court, but was acquitted by the SHC on October 31, 2006.

After almost a decade, Khan said, law enforcement agencies had again arrested his son on 

January 25, 2017, but released him after a brief detention.

Two months later, on March 31, Zubair was picked up by personnel of law enforcement agencies from his residence in Nazimabad. His whereabouts since remain unknown.

Khan claimed that personnel of law enforcement agencies had raided his house and took his son away in vehicle bearing registration number, CR-8959. He expressed apprehension about his son’s security and requested the court to issue orders for his release if he was not required in any cases.  

The SHC division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Shafi Siddiqui, after preliminary hearing of the petition, issued notices to the federal and provincial law officers, law enforcement agencies and others and called their comments.

 The court also directed the excise and taxation department’s motor registration wing to submit details of the vehicle used in the raid conducted to arrest the detainee. It is pertinent to mention that another suspect in the US consulate bombing case, Sharib Arsalan Farooqui, has also been missing since December 2011 and his whereabouts remain unknown.

 

Notice to Khanani and Kalia directors 

The SHC issued notices to Khanani and Kalia directors Hanif S Kalia, Abdul Munaf Kalia and others on an appeal by the state against their acquittal in a money laundering scam.

Hanif S Kalia, Abdul Munaf Kalia, Javed Khanani, Atif Polani and others were acquitted by the banking court on charges of running an illegal foreign exchange and parallel banking network.

According to the FIA, Khanai and Kalia directors were involved in illegal transfers of massive foreign exchange amounts in collusion with different exchange companies, money changers and businessmen.  

The FIA has alleged that K&K directors received amounts from overseas Pakistanis through foreign exchange companies on their behalf for remitting, but instead of transferring these amounts to Pakistan through authorised banks duly declared by the State Bank of Pakistan, they used to retain the same abroad or used to transfer the money to any foreign currency accounts opened in collusion with persons secretly in order to conceal the remittance. 

The prosecution alleged that K&K directors held the foreign currency and did not sell or declare it to the SBP, while an equivalent amount payable against the remittance was distributed in Pakistan to recipients, depriving foreign currency exchange and remittances to the tune of billions of dollars. The appeal was pending since April 2011. SHC’s division bench headed by Justice Salahuddin Panhwar issued notice to the respondents through DG FIA, observing that failure in appearance of respondents, the DG FIA shall have to appear in person to explain non-compliance of court orders.

 

Ex-secy’s bail dismissed 

The SHC dismissed a bail application filed by a former secretary for local bodies, Ali Ahmed Lund, in a National Accountability Bureau reference against him for accumulation of wealth beyond his known sources of income.

The former secretary is accused of illegally accumulating moveable and immoveable assets estimated to be worth around Rs225 million. According to NAB, Ahmed amassed the fortune during his employment as a government servant from 1984 to 2014. 

The NAB’s counsel opposed his bail application, submitting that four more inquires were also pending against the former secretary.