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Published 22 Jun, 2008 12:00am

Benazir murder case: suspects’ bail plea rejected

RAWALPINDI, June 21: An anti-terrorism court on Saturday disposed of a case filed by three suspected terrorists seeking bail in Benazir assassination case, and decided to conduct the trial of a juvenile accused separately.

ATC-I Judge Chaudhry Habibur Rehman, who is conducting the trial, rejected the bail applications of the three arrested accused Aitzaz Shah, Sher Zaman, Abdul Rasheed after the special public prosecutor maintained that the bail to the accused could not be granted as they were involved in a heinous crime.

The lawyer of the accused had maintained in the petition that the charges levelled against the accused were bailable as the accused were not involved in the murder. The judge would now take up the murder case for hearing on July 14.

The court also formally decided to initiate separate trial of Aitzaz Shah who was declared juvenile as according to a medical he is under 18 years of age.

Charges could not be framed formally against the five arrested accused Aitzaz Shah, Sher Zaman, Abdul Rasheed, Mohammad Rafaqat and Hasnain Gul. Five other accused in the case Baitullah Mehsud, Ikramullah, Abadur Rehman, Abdullah alias Saddam, and Faiz Mohammad alias Kaskat had been declared as proclaimed offenders by the court.

Rafaqat and Hasnain are also allegedly involved in two other suicide attacks one in R A Bazaar and the other in Civil Limes police area last year. The police failed on Saturday to present the challan (charge sheet) against them in the two cases and the judge adjourned the hearing till July 14.

Meanwhile the judge extended the judicial remand of the four suspected terrorists involved in the incident of a rocket attack on air force complex at Kamra Attock till July 14 and Attock police submitted challan (charge sheet) against Abdul Rasheed also involved in the attack.

The judicial remand of the suspects Syed Arab alias Tariq, Gul Roze, Tehseen Ullah and Mohammad Shafique was extended. They are suspected for their role in the rocket attack on the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex at Kamra.

In the attack, four rockets were fired at the complex on January 17, 2008 one of rockets landed on the roof of senior non-commissioned officers’ mess and two others hit airmen’s residences inside the Mirage Rebuild Factory. The fourth rocket exploded in a field near the Qutba village, close to the Kamra Cantonment. No casualty was reported.

In the charge sheet the police said Abdul Rasheed confessed to carrying out the attack in Kamra in his statement under section 164 of criminal procedure code after he was arrested by Rawalpindi police for his involvement in the murder of Benazir Bhutto.

In another case the ATC-II Judge Sakhi Muhammad Kahot remanded a man in the physical custody of FIA after he was arrested from Rawalpindi for hurling threats to destroy the FIA headquarters.

Zeeshan Ahmed was arrested from Dhoke Khabba area after he was traced through his mobile set number by the FIA. The special investigation group of FIA registered a terrorism case against him.

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