KARACHI, July 17: The organizers of the Eid-i-Milad function were partly responsible for the Nishtar Park incident of April 11, Pakistan Sunni Movement chairman Shah Sirajul Haq Qadri admitted before the inquiry tribunal probing the blast on Monday.

He agreed with the tribunal, which consists of Justice Rahmat Hussain Jafferi of the Sindh High Court, that security zones should have been established at the venue of the public meeting. He replied in the negative when asked whether the organizers has set up security zones and agreed that they were partly responsible for security lapses along with the police force.

The PSM chief said nothing was brought to the stage after its sweeping by the bomb disposal unit. The banner and the table it was placed on were already there when the unit checked the stage and other places at the venue. Asked why he did not offer prayers in the first or second row of the stage congregation along with other prominent leaders, Shah Siraj said he went to the rear of the stage to discuss something with Maulana Akram Qadri of the Sunni Tehrik and stayed behind to join the last row of the congregation.

According to the report of town police officer Sanaullah Abbasi, meanwhile, the PSM chief made two phone calls to his maternal cousin to inform her of the blast at 7-06pm and 7-09pm on April 11 to inform her of the blast, which occurred at 7-05pm.

He called the home minister at 7-16 p.m. According to police record, the person who threatened to blow up Darul Uloom Anwarul Qadria of Maulana Altaf Qadri, the complainant in the case, on behalf Mufti Munir Shakirof the NWFP was named Mufti Khurshid.

PSM secretary-general Shafiul Azam also recorded his testimony on Monday. He said he was offering Sunnat prayers in the third row of the stage congregation when he heard the sound of blast and saw a flare. He received pellets, fell down and became unconscious. He regained consciousness on the fourth day after the blast and found himself in the JPMC.

He said he was shifted to Al Mustafa Medical Centre in Gulshan-i-Iqbal for better treatment. Surgeons at Al-Mustafa operated upon him and extracted one pellet from under his chin and another from his leg. Both pellets were produced before the tribunal along with his bloodstained clothes.

The witness said his name had been included in the list of injured victims entitled to compensation amounting to Rs 50,000. But the cheque was issued in a wrong name and he sent it back for correction. Shah Siraj said his name had also been included in the compensation list, though he was not injured. He said he had returned the cheque with the request that the list of victims should be properly drawn. The tribunal asked Additional Advocate-General Sarwar Khan to produce the list.