ATC rejects bail pleas of 3 'terrorists'

RAWALPINDI - The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC), Rawalpindi No1, Saturday rejected the bail applications of three suspected terrorists, involved in the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and decided to conduct the trial of a juvenile accused Aitzaz Shah separately. According to details, ATC-I Judge Chaudhry Habibur Rehman rejected the bail pleas of the three arrested accused Aitzaz Shah, Sher Zaman and Abdul Rasheed after the special public prosecutor maintained that the bail could not be granted to the accused 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 and the accused was not involved in the case. The judge put off the hearing till July 14. The court also formally decided to initiate a separate trial of Aitzaz Shah who was declared juvenile after a medical examination confirmed that he is below 18 years. Charges could not be framed formally against the five arrested accused Aitzaz Shah, Sher Zaman, Abdul Rasheed, Muhammad Rafaqat and Hasnain Gul. Five other accused in the case, Baitullah Mehsud, Ikramullah, Abadur Rehman, Abdullah alias Saddam, and Faiz Muhammad 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 Lines police area last year. The police on Saturday failed 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 remands of the suspects Syed Arab alias Tariq, Gul Roze, Tehseen Ullah and Muhammad Shafique were 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 Rebuilt 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 Rahseed 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.

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