KARACHI: The 2009 Ashura bombing case still remains a mystery after 11 years, as the case file remains shelved in the court since Rangers and police have failed to re-arrest three suspected Jundullah militants allegedly involved in the attack who had escaped from their ‘own’ custody at the city courts, it emerged on Saturday.

However, the prosecutor general claims that all the four suspects, including the trio, who escaped from the custody, too had been killed in an encounter with the law-enforcers.

Such a revelation puts questions marks on the performance of the law enforcers and might add to the miseries of the relatives of the victims of the deadly terrorist attack, who are awaiting justice for a decade now.

More than 45 people were killed as a devastating bomb blast ripped through the main Ashura procession on main M. A. Jinnah Road on December 28, 2009.

The Sindh prosecutor general claims that the remaining three fleeing suspects were also killed in a shootout with law-enforcers

Four suspects — Murtaza alias Shakil, Mohammad Saqib Farooqui, Wazir Mohammad and Murad Shah — said to be associated with the banned militant outfit Jundullah, were arrested in January 2010 and booked in four cases pertaining to a series of attacks on Muharram processions in Karachi in 2009.

“The four cases pertaining to the targeted attacks on the mourning processions, including the one on the main Ashura procession, remain shelved in the court’s custody since October 2010 for want of suspects,” judicial staffers at an antiterrorism court, where the cases are pending trial, told Dawn.

Witnesses had reportedly identified four detained suspects during an identification parade held before a judicial magistrate at a pre-trial stage in the cases, according to the prosecution officials.

The Jundullah militants, who were arrested after a shoot-out at Hawkesbay in 2010 and had allegedly confessed to the attacks, escaped from the city court the same year.

All the suspects were reportedly got freed from the police custody by their accomplices after a gun attack on the premises of the crowded City Courts judicial complex on M. A. Jinnah Road, where the police had produced them in another case registered against them by the Anti-Car Lifting Cell on June 20, 2010.

Case still on dormant file

One of the four suspects, Murad Shah, was killed while fleeing, but his alleged accomplices were never caught again.

“After the suspects managed to flee and the investigating officer (IO) informed the ATC-III about it,” said an official, wishing not to be named.

“Subsequently, the court kept the cases on ‘dormant’ because the police and other law enforcement agencies have yet to show any progress regarding arrest of the suspects, who remain at large after a decade,” added the official.

“The case is still ‘dormant’, as there is no progress till the day,” a judicial official at the trial court told Dawn on Saturday. “It means the accused are still absconding and have not been brought to the court,” the official added.

The trial court had issued life warrants for the arrest of the three suspects on Oct 7, 2010 directing the police to produce them in court “as soon as possible”.

The Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of police had at the time of their arrest claimed that the suspects were ‘high-profile’ criminals associated with the proscribed Jundullah. However, they were not tried in a court inside the prison and jail authorities sent them to the city courts without making proper security arrangements.

It was the responsibility of the IOs to ask or recommend to the home department through a letter to notify the jail trial of hardened criminals in high-profile cases or if the jail authorities had insufficient security arrangement to take them to courts.

Justice delayed

Legal experts believed that the prolonged suspension of the proceeding in such high-profile cases always benefited the accused party as prosecution witnesses might change their residences or go underground.

Also, it is hard for a witness to remember the exact evidence for years while it is also a difficult task for the IOs to maintain the case property, police files and stay in touch with their witnesses, they added.

The SIU arrested them following a shoot-out on Hawkesbay Road on Jan 23, 2010 and claimed that they had allegedly confessed to have carried out the attacks on the Muharram processions.

Subsequently, they were charge-sheeted under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 and their cases were sent to the ATC-III for trial and the court had supplied copies of documents to the suspects under Section 265-C of the criminal procedure code. However, they escaped before their indictment.

Murtaza and Saqib were booked for killing over 45 people and wounding about 100 others in the bomb attack on the main Ashura procession on Dec 28, 2009.

The duo were also charge-sheeted in the Paposh Nagar blast that took place on Dec 26, 2009 when an 8th Muharram procession was passing by and it left 13 people wounded.

Murad Shah along with his alleged absconding accomplices — Haider, Hasnain and Sajid — was charge-sheeted in a case pertaining to a low-intensity blast that targeted a 9th Muharram procession in Qasba Colony on Dec 27, 2009.

Besides, the four suspects were also booked in a case registered under Sections 4/5 of the Explosive Substance Act, 1908 read with Section 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the ATA at the Sir Syed police station, as the police claimed to have recovered explosive material on a lead provided by them.

Prosecutor general’s revelation

Talking to Dawn, Sindh Prosecutor General Dr Faiz Shah claimed that the remaining three fleeing suspects were also killed in a shootout with law-enforcers.

Without elaborating further, Mr Shah said that according to the IO of the case the absconding suspects had been killed in an encounter.

However, he was unaware if the prosecution department had intimated the trial court about killing of the three suspects.

After the lapse of 11 years, Mr Shah’s claim gives the case yet another interesting turn because whether the law-enforcers have failed to re-arrest the fleeing suspects or they have been killed in encounter. In both condition, the relatives of the victims as well as the survivors of the main Ashura attack still await justice.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2020