Two testify in cases against PPP MNA from Lyari
KARACHI, July 17: Two prosecution witnesses did not identify a Pakistan Peoples Party lawmaker as one of the men involved in two attacks on police in Lyari before an anti-terrorism court on Wednesday.
MNA Shahjehan Baloch, who was elected on a PPP ticket from Lyari, has been charged with attacking police during an operation in Lyari in April-May last year, in which some passers-by and a head constable were killed and some policemen suffered bullet wounds.
Two CID policemen — Constables Waqas Ahmed and Amir Baig — were the eyewitness of the two cases, as they were part of the raiding teams and sustained bullet wounds during the armed attacks.
Constable Ahmed deposed that on April 27, 2012 he was performing duty at the CID Garden office and went to the Kalakot area in Lyari in an armoured personnel carrier (APC) along with his seniors and subordinates to take part in an ongoing operation.
He further deposed that their APC was attacked and there was darkness, adding that he sustained bullet injuries as he came out of the APC and was shifted to hospital.
He said that he had not seen MNA Baloch at the crime scene.
Constable Baig, who was an eyewitness in the second case, testified that on April 26, he along with a police team proceeded towards the Baghdadi area in Lyari, but miscreants fired at them killing Head Constable Altaf and causing injuries to him and other policemen.
The witness stated that he had not seen the faces of the culprits and also not noticed the present accused at the scene of crime.
After completion of their testimonies, Judge Ghulam Mustafa Memon of the ATC-III, who is conducting the trial inside the prison, adjourned the hearing till Aug 1 for further evidence.
According to the prosecution, leaders and activists of the banned Peoples Amn Committee and Lyari gang warfare had attacked the police and other law-enforcement agencies with weapons, rocket launchers and hand grenades during an operation in Lyari.
Two cases were registered at the Kalakot and Baghdadi police stations.
The prosecution has so far examined around five witnesses in each case, but none of them implicated the confined accused in these cases.
The head of the proscribed PAC Uzair Jan Baloch and others were absconders in the cases.
Around 35 cases were lodged against the banned PAC members for allegedly attacking the law-enforcement agencies during the Lyari operation.