KARACHI: Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh was not released even after obtaining bail in a land-grab because he is booked in another case registered against him in Hyderabad.

This was submitted by Central Prison Karachi Superintendent Hassan Sehto in a report filed before District and Sessions Judge (East) Naeem Memon, who is seized with a petition against continued detention of Mr Sheikh in the prison despite having obtained bail in a land-grab case registered in Karachi.

The prison chief also submitted a copy of the FIR lodged against Mr Sheikh, a leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), and others related to illegal transfer of land from one deh to the other in alleged connivance with revenue officials.

He submitted that the case was under trial before the anti-corruption court in Hyderabad, thus Mr Sheikh could not be set free.

The judge took the prison chief’s report on record and adjourned the hearing.

Naeem Adil Sheikh had moved the court against the prison superintendent, accusing him of not releasing his brother, Haleem Adil Sheikh, despite the fact that the Special Court Public Property (Removal of Encroachment) had granted a bail to his brother on Aug 22.

The Anti-Encroachment Force (AEF) had arrested Mr Sheikh after the judge had revoked his interim pre-arrest bail for ‘failing’ to appear before the court on Aug 17. Subsequently, he was remanded in judicial custody.

Later, the special court’s judge granted him a bail subject to furnishing of a Rs100,000 personal bond. However, defence counsel Zahoor Mahsud alleged that the prison authorities had refused to release the interned opposition leader on the pretext that his custody was required in some other case.

In Karachi, Mr Sheikh is facing a trial in a case registered against him and others under sections 8(i) of the Special Public Property (Removal of Encroachment) Act, 2010 at the Anti-Encroachment Force Zone-I, Karachi, on behalf of the state.

Case property seized from convicted IS man was lost to fire, IO tells court

An antiterrorism court was informed that a weapon used in the murder case registered against the Islamic State-inspired convict Saad Aziz and others had been lost in a fire in the Malkhana (judicial ware store) in April 2018.

A business graduate from a prestigious Karachi institution, Saad Aziz, who along with his accomplices was sentenced to death by a military court for killing 43 members of the Ismaili community in 2015 bombing in Safoora Goth, had been charged with murder, attempted murder, possessing illicit weapon and causing terrorism.

When the matter recently came up before the ATC-VII judge, who is conducting the trial in the judicial complex inside the central prison, the investigating officer was set to produce case property against the accused persons.

The investigating officer disclosed before the court that an unlicensed weapon recovered from the accused persons in another case, had been burnt in the incident of the fire that had hit the City Courts’ Malkhana in April 2018.

Without passing any order against the officials in charge of the judicial ware store over the purported loss of the case property, the judge had adjourned the matter on Aug 22.

A case under Section 23(i)-A of the Sindh Arms Act, 2013 was registered against Saad Aziz, alias Tin Tin, and Asad-ur-Rehman, alias Malik, at the Counter-Terrorism Department police station in 2015.

In the meanwhile, the judge directed the investigating officer of another case pertaining to murder, encounter and terrorism to produce the case property against both the accused on the next date.

The judge also issued non-bailable warrants for the arrest of the witnesses of the prosecution for failing to turn up before the court to record their testimonies against the accused persons.

The judge told the SSP concerned to ensure arrest of the witnesses and their production before the court.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2022