Court orders appearance of more witnesses at June 11 hearing against ‘LeJ hitman’

An anti-terrorism court on Friday recorded the testimonies of two witnesses against outlawed Laskhar-e-Jhangvi “hitman” Ishaq alias Bobby in a couple of cases pertaining to sectarian killings.

Ishaq along with his accomplice Asim alias Capri has already been convicted and sentenced to death by a military court in April, 2018, for the murder of Qawwal maestro Amjad Sabri. They face around one-and-a-half dozen cases, which include the targeted killings of polio workers, and military and police personnel.

The ATC-XVI, which is conducting the trial inside the central prison for security concerns, took up the murder cases of a doctor, Aziz, and a paan shop proprietor, Wazir Ali, who were allegedly killed on sectarian grounds in Korangi five to six years ago.

Two witnesses appeared in the court and deposed before the judge about the day of the incident. They were among those who rushed the victims to hospital and saw the incident happening. Aziz was killed at his clinic in Korangi 1 ½ on September 11, 2014 and Ali was killed at his paan shop in Korangi 5 ½ on January 24, 2015, both within the remits of the Zaman Town police station. According to the prosecution, Ishaq along with his absconding accomplices, Abdul Ahad and Ifran, carried out these murders.

The judge, after recording the testimonies and cross examination of them by the defence lawyer, directed the investigation officer to bring more witnesses to the next hearing on June 11. Asim and Ishaq were recently transferred from Sukkur to Karachi recently for the resumption of their pending trials. The profile of the suspects, based on the input from the Counter Terrorism Department, describes them as professional hitmen, experts in killing their targets in public, and radicalised from a tender age.

After their arrests, the top tier of the LeJ group they belonged to was also arrested. The Inter-Services Public Relations in February 2016 had announced the arrests of the Karachi chief of the organisation, Naeem Bukhari, and the deputy of the Afghanistan-based al Qaeda’s South Asia group, Farooq Bhatti alias Munna, in a press conference at the Karachi Corps Headquarters.