KARACHI: Despite the lapse of 14 years, the case related to killing of six people in an arson attack in Tahir Plaza is still pending trial, primarily because the lawyers’ leaders fail to turn up to testify against three undertrial Muttahida Qaumi Movement activists, it emerged on Friday.

Advocate Altaf Abbasi along with his five clients was burnt to death in his Tahir Plaza office near the City Courts when the building, which mostly housed lawyers’ offices, was set ablaze following a quarrel between two groups of lawyers at the City Courts.

Three accused — M Imran, alias Imran Saeed; Ahmed Saeed alias Saeed Bharam, and Faisal Javed — with their 12 absconding accomplices have been charged with violence, burning six people in an arson attack and terrorism within the remit of the Risala police station on April 9, 2008.

Judicial and prosecution sources told Dawn that the trial had initially seen an inordinate delay of 11 years for different reasons until 2019.

KBA leader blames judicial system for inordinate delay

“The proceedings remained stalled for a long time for two reasons,” said Advocate Mushtaque Ahmed Jahangiri, prosecutor representing Rangers in the case.

Initially, the police had detained two suspects — Syed Nadeem Hasan Zaidi and Wamiq Atiq Siddiqui — said to be political activists, who had allegedly confessed to their involvement in the case. However, they were released for lack of evidence in Sept 2011.

Similarly, the third suspect Abdul Qadir, who was arrested in April 2014, was also freed, when an eyewitness had also failed to identify him during an identification parade.

Twist in trial

However, the investigators claimed a breakthrough in the investigation after Imran and Ahmed Saeed confessed to the attack.

IO Inspector Chaudhry Mohammad Arshad, in a supplementary charge sheet filed on June 6, 2008, had said that accused Imran was detained by the Garden police in an explosives case in 2016. He disclosed before a joint investigation team (JIT) that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Altaf leader, Hammad Siddiqui, and activist Saeed Bharam had tasked him and 12 others to ‘teach a lesson’ to the lawyers, who were protesting for the restoration of then deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, it added.

Accused Imran also named others, including Rizwan, alias Mota; Nawab Dhobi; Mubashir Naqvi; Ayaz, alias Major; Asim, alias Ganja; Abbas, alias Abbasi; Saleem, alias Golden; Shahzad Qadri; Wajid; Shehroz, alias Bablu; Faisal, alias Mama; Raju and others as co-accused.

The charge sheet further said that accused Saeed Bharam, who was arrested by the Nabi Bakhsh police in a murder case in 2009, also disclosed before a JIT that he belonged to the MQM-Altaf. He also confessed to his involvement in the Tahir Plaza case.

The IO also mentioned in the interim charge sheet that accused Imran Saeed also allegedly confessed that he along with other MQM-A workers reached Tahir Plaza at 6pm, scared the people by firing shots into the air and climbed up to the sixth floor, where they threw some chemical that caused a fire in the offices of advocates Altaf Jaffery, Naeem Qureshi and others that burnt the lawyer and others.

He said both the detained accused had also recorded their confessional statements before a judicial magistrate while eyewitnesses had also identified them before the magistrate concerned.

The prosecution sources said both the detained accused had been indicted in the present case, but key witnesses were not coming forward to testify.

Prosecutor Jahangiri blamed the lawyers for the delays in the matter.

Around 10 lawyers, including former Karachi Bar Association president Naeem Qureshi, Tasawur Hussain Zaidi and others, are not turning up to record their testimonies against the accused, he blamed.

He further alleged that the lawyers witnesses to the incident were deliberately avoiding to appear in court since June 2018.

Karachi Bar Association general secretary Muhammad Naeem Memon refuted the allegations saying hearings were adjourned either due to the absence of lawyers or judges and blamed judicial system for the delays.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2022