Non-bailable arrest warrant for DHA double murder co-accused

Karachi : A district & sessions court on Saturday issued a non-bailable arrest warrant for the DHA double murder case co-accused who had escaped from the Supreme Court after his bail application was turned down.

The additional district & sessions judge (South) posted at the judicial complex inside the Central Jail Karachi ordered the investigating officer to arrest Adil Zaman and bring him to court on October 10.

Adil and his brother Atif Zaman had been booked for the murders of anchorman Mureed Abbas and construction contractor Khizar Hayat, who were shot minutes apart in the upmarket DHA neighbourhood on July 9 last year.

Atif was arrested soon after the incident, while Adil remained on the run for five months until the police tracked him down to his native town near Abbottabad, but their trial could not begin due to dramatic delays in the case.

In Saturday’s hearing, the IO informed the judge that Adil was on the run again after the top court dismissed his bail plea. He said that efforts were still under way to trace his whereabouts.

The case has been facing dramatic delays since the beginning. The first turn came during the third week of the case when

Atif was brought to court in an ambulance to record

his confession, but he refused to give any because he said he would contest the case.

Soon after this, the police suggested that the case be tried under the Anti-Terrorism Act, but the anti-terrorism court (ATC) tasked with it referred it back to the sessions court because the ATC said the case did not fall under the definition of terrorism.