ATC reissues notice to Rangers official on plea to withdraw case against Dr Asim, others

An anti-terrorism court on Saturday once again issued a notice to a Rangers official on an application filed by the Sindh government seeking the court’s permission to withdraw a criminal case against former federal minister and Pakistan Peoples Party leader Dr Asim Hussain and other politicians.

Dr Asim Hussain has been charged with allegedly treating and harbouring terror suspects, including political militants and gangsters, at the North Nazimabad and Clifton branches of the Ziauddin Hospital at the behest of the PPP’s Abdul Qadir Patel, MQM-P’s Anis Qaimkhani, former Karachi mayor Wasim Akhtar, Rauf Siddiqui and Pasban leader Usman Moazzam.

In February, the Sindh government through a special public prosecutor moved an application before the court, seeking its permission to withdraw the case against the politicians facing the trial. The application has been moved under Section 494 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) read with Section 9-A(3)(III) of the Sindh Criminal Prosecution Service (Constitution, Function & Power) Act, 2009.

As the case up for hearing before the ATC-II judge on Saturday, Dr Asim, Anis Qaimkhani and Wasim Akhtar turned up in the court on bail while Rauf Siddiqui, Usman Moazzam and Qadir Patel were called absent.

Special Public Prosecutor Muhammad Younis and some of the defence lawyers forwarded their arguments on the application. The judge observed that the court had issued a notice to Superintendent of Rangers Inayatullah Durrani, who is the complainant of the case, to appear in person but he was called absent.

He reissued a notice to him through the Rangers director general to appear at the next hearing set for May 3.

Earlier, the prosecutor had informed the judge that the Sindh government wanted to withdraw the case against all the accused persons and sought the court’s permission for this purpose. He placed on record a letter dated February 16 written to Sindh Prosecutor General Faiz Shah by the home department giving the go-ahead to the proposal for withdrawal of the case with the consent of the court.

The prosecutor said there was no material on record which may result in the conviction of the accused.

An FIR was lodged at the North Nazimabad police station under sections 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence or giving false information to screen offender), 202 (intentional omission to give information of offence by person bound to inform), 216 (harbouring offender who has escaped from custody whose apprehension has been ordered), 216-A (harbouring robbers or dacoits), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant or banker, merchant or agent) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with various sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.