Karachi airport attack accused to be indicted on 7th

Karachi
Charges against three detained accused could not be framed on Saturday in the Karachi Airport attack case due to their non-production in the court
The court has now fixed February 7 for framing the charges.
The custody of Sarmad Siddiqui, Nadeem alias Burger and Asif Zaheer was not brought to the anti-terrorism court (ATC) concerned due to a strike being observed in the city against the killings of some 61 people at an Imambargah in Shikarpur.
The ATC-I, headed by Bashir Ahmed Khoso, has already declared eight absconding accused, including banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Mullah Fazlullah and spokesman Shahidullah Shahid, involved in the Karachi Airport attack case as proclaimed offenders.
The court had directed the prosecution to frame charges against the three under detention accused on January 31 but the accused could not be produced in the court and the court had to adjourn the hearing till February 7.
Moreover, the family members of one accused, Sarmad Siddiqui have claimed that he was implicated in a false case and asserted that being a law-abiding citizen Sarmad could not imagine to attack or harm anyone.
They said Sarmad is a human rights defender and heads a human right organisation namely the Citizens’ Human Rights.
They suggested that the charges against Sarmad should been investigated through a judge of the superior court.
They alleged that the police had demanded huge amount as a bribe and since they were unable to pay, he (Sarmad) was nominated in a false case.
It may be mentioned that one of the accused, Master Essa, has been freed by the police as no proof of his involvement in the case was found.
At the previous hearing, the ATC-I judge was informed that the court orders were executed in terms of confiscation of properties of the eight absconding accused.
Judicial remand
The judicial magistrate (East) on Saturday sent three alleged killers of 14 policemen and 10 civilians to jail on judicial remand.
Sheraz alias Faisal, Zubair Arif alias Yadoo and Abdur Rahim were arrested on January 23 in a case of murder of a police constable, Malik Hafeez, and the CID police also claimed to have recovered one Kalashnikov and two illegal pistols from their possession, but the suspects during investigation confessed of killed at least 14 policemen.
The police said that the three detainees had also claimed of killing 10 other people as a part of the Lyari gang war.
Five of their companions, including Yousuf Pathan, Akbar Buledi, Moosa alias Policewala, Imran Bhaya, Bilawal alias Shaam were still at large.
The court also directed the investigation officer (IO) to submit charge sheet in the cases against the detained accused at the next hearing.
According to the Crime Investigation Department CID, they had seized some equipment and gadgets the three accused used for tracking the movement of the law enforcement agencies.
It may be mentioned that the CID Operations chief SP Usman Bajwa had told at a press conference that the three gangsters were members of the Sohail Ladla gang operating in the Gulshan-e-Iqbal area.
One of the three accused, namely Zubair Arif alias Yado, is said to have earlier worked as a cop in District East.