DAWN/The News International, KARACHI 11 June 2000, Sunday, 7 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1421
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BNP, MQM discuss ethnic peace
Octroi reference: Dr Farooq's case put off till 23
Bandits injure three: Three murdered
Feared terrorist Shabbir Fauji arrested
Task force on sectarianism
BNP, MQM discuss ethnic peace
LONDON, June 10: Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain night met President of the Balochistan National Party (BNP) Sardar Ataullah Mengal here on Thursday night and discussed the political situation in Pakistan, with particular reference to Sindh.

Mr Hussain, who was accompanied by MQM leaders Dr Imran Farooq, Mohammad Anwar and Tariq Meer, told the BNP leader about "excesses" being committed by the federal government against the Mohajir nation.

The meeting continued for four hours. Besides, the two leaders discussed some important matters in camera for one hour. This was the second meeting of Mr Hussain with a Baloch leader. Earlier, he had met President of the Pakistan Milli Awami Party Mahmood Khan Achakzai, who is also in London these days.

Mr Mengal, according to MQM sources, stressed the need for unity and cooperation between Sindhis and Mohajirs, and said prosperity and progress of Sindh depended on better understanding between them. He said both Sindhis and Mohajirs should jointly struggle for the progress of the province.

Mr Mengal called for sincere efforts for the promotion of harmony and brotherhood among Sindhis and Mohajirs, and offered his full support in this regard. He said smaller nations should struggle unitedly for achieving their rights.

Mr Hussain told Mr Mengal that his party had made efforts for the unity of Sindhis and Mohajirs, and recalled that he had recently written an open letter, addressed to Sindhis. He held out an assurance that efforts in this regard would continue. He further said Mohajirs wanted to join hands and cooperate with their Sindhi brethren, and vehemently denied that the former had any designs on the province.

The MQM chief said Sindh had been turned into a colony of Punjab and regretted that the latter had even deprived Sindh of its due share in water, which was being supplied to irrigate lands in Punjab. He said that since the last eight years, the Establishment had been conducting an operation against Mohajirs and had killed thousands of them without any reason. However, he reiterated that Mohajirs would continue their peaceful struggle till the achievement of their rights.

Mr Hussain also said that all oppressed nations, struggling for their rights in Pakistan, were being labeled as traitors, and asserted that the solution of the problem lay in giving equal rights to people of all the provinces. He also expressed his gratitude to the BNP leader for the support and assistance his son, Akhtar Mengal, had extended to the MQM medical aid committee in its relief work in Balochistan. Both the leaders agreed that they would meet again.

Octroi reference: Dr Farooq's case put off till 23
ATTOCK, June 10: Farrukh Latif, the judge of Attock Accountability Court, Attock Fort, on Saturday, behaving on the request of defence counsel, adjourned the hearing of the octroi reference against Dr Farooq Sattar and others till June 23.

The case was fixed for recording of evidence and one witness, Muhammad Ibrahim Qureshi, former director local government, Karachi, was present in the court.

When the witness's chief examination had been completed, Dr Basit, the counsel for Dr Farooq Sattar entered the court room and requested the court to stop the proceedings. The judge declined his request and said that the court would record the evidence as two witnesses were summoned on state expense.

Dr Basit moved an application under Article 190 of the Constitution seeking stay of the proceedings with the plea that the matter is pending in the Supreme Court and also in Lahore High Court.

"Lahore High Court has reserved the judgment on our application that trial may not be conducted at Attock Fort," Dr Basit said.

The deputy prosecutor general, Raja Muhammad Bashir said that the defence counsel was anticipating the judgement of the LHC in his favor which was wrong. "Let the judgement come. If this would be against us the proceedings would automatically stand quashed, otherwise, the court would continue," he said.

The judge said that he could not hear the application without issuing notice to the state. "I will be issuing notice to the state on your application." However, the judge fixed the case for June 23, 2000 on the request of Dr Basit.

When the court offered witness Muhammad Ibrahim Qureshi to defence counsel for cross examination, once again Dr Basit asked the court to stop the proceedings. The judge observed that he would not call the witnesses again and again at the state expense. "I do not want to spent peoples' money like this." Dr Basit offered that he would pay the expenses of the witnesses. The prosecution did not object to the offer.

The judge said that on June 23 and 24 the evidence would be recorded and the expenses of the two witnesses appeared on Saturday would be paid by the defence when they will come on the next date of hearing. The matter was adjourned for June 23, 2000.

Farooq Sattar and the co-accused Anzar Zaidi, the ex-Administrator, Karachi Metrop-olitan Corporation, were present in the court.-APP

Bandits injure three: Three murdered
KARACHI, June 10: Three people including a woman were murdered in separate incidents in the city on Saturday.

A woman was stabbed to death allegedly by her husband after a violent row over monetary matter on Saturday in Soldier Bazaar.

The reports said Ghulam Akbar was married to Shaheen some 16 years ago. On Saturday, as a violent row erupted between them, Ghulam Akbar lost his temper, attacked his wife with a knife and fled the scene. Shaheen suffered two knife wounds and died on the spot.

A guard of a security agency was killed by bandits during a robbery in SITE. The police said three bandits barged into a textile mill for robbery. The security guard resisted them. The suspects became violent and opened fire. He received bullet wounds and died on the spot. One of the assailants was also wounded by the firing of their accomplices, the police said.

The dead and the injured were shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where the security guard was identified as Fateh Rehman, 65. The suspect, identified as Mohammad, was referred to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center. His condition was stated to be serious as he had sustained a bullet wound to his jaws.

The body of a 45-year-old man was found at his Gulshan-i- Iqbal home with his throat slit. Reports said Sohail reached the home of Abdul Jalil at Ziaul Haq Colony, a shanty town, and found him dead with his throat slit. His body also bore 11 stab wounds. The police reached the spot and shifted the body to JPMC for autopsy. The police suspected the involvement of two friends of Abdul Jalil who resided with him and have disappeared since his death.

DIES: A professional photographer was found dead in a flat in PECHS on Friday. The reports said the photographer, identified as Wakeel Ahmed, was discovered in a bungalow near Cafe Liberty on Tariq Road. The bungalow was owned by a friend of Wakeel and he often used to visit the bungalow. The police broke open the door, discovered the body and later shifted to the JPMC where the postmortem report was reserved till the receipt of histopathological and chemical reports. The sources said that no marks of torture or injury were found on the body.

WOUNDED: Three persons including a couple were shot and wounded by the bandits during robbery attempt. Reports said three robbers forced their entry into a flat of Mohammad Zakaria Qasim and tried to commit a robbery. Zakaria and his wife Kulsoom resisted the bandit who shot them and wounded. The police were informed who reached the spot and cordoned off the area. The robbers attempted to flee firing at the police. The police returned the fire and arrested Azam. His two accomplices, Raju and Sharif escaped. The couple was shifted to Civil Hospital for treatment where their condition was stated to be serious.

In Gulshan-i-Iqbal Block-2, bandits tried to hijack a car (ACU-099) from Idrees Faisal who resisted the bandits. They opened fire at him and drove away his car. Idrees sustained bullet wounds and was shifted to the hospital. His car was later found abandoned in the same vicinity by the police.

STUDENTS' CLASH: Police arrested two students after a clash between two students' groups at Urdu Arts College on Saturday. According to police, students of two groups had a scuffle and attacked each other with clubs and sticks. Nazar Abbasi lodged an FIR at Eidgah police station that Qaisar, Yusuf Khan, Zafar Baloch, Irfan Baloch and Shafiq injured Usama Farooq. The police nabbed Qaisar and Yusuf Khan while search continued for the absconding suspects.

Feared terrorist Shabbir Fauji arrested

JHANG: Jhang police succeeded in arresting feared terrorist Shabbir Shah alias Muhammad Ali Fauji from Shorkot Friday night. Shabbir Shah, sentenced to death penalty for 22 times, had escaped from Camp Jail, Lahore on June 3. He is believed to be responsible for over 100 murders. This was his fourth escape from the police custody.

Announcing Shabbir's arrest in a press conference, the SSP Jhang gave details of Shabbir Shah's escape and re-arrest. He said some of his friends paid million of rupees to Assistant Superintendent Jail Shabrez Khan and Head Warden Munir Guyyar to help Shabbir escape from the jail.

They provided Shabbir with Punjab Police uniform and helped him out of the cell. He then put on police uniform and after jumping over a small wall, separating prison cells from the kitchen and entered the kitchen. He then proceeded to the main gate.

The SSP Jhang said, after fleeing he was seen on his way to Tehsil Chowk by a police source, who informed Shorkot city police SHO Naseeb Dogar. Dogar and his team arrested Shabbir along with his wife and three daughters when they were sitting in a bus to go back to Multan.

Task force on sectarianism

ISLAMABAD: The Advisory Board of the Ministry of Interior on Saturday decided to review the existing laws relating to sectarianism as a first step towards improving the law and order situation. The board, which met under Interior Minister Lt General (retd) Moinuddin Haider, also agreed to expand the Task Force on Sectarianism in order to incorporate views of all the sects in policy formulation to handle the thorny issue. This is one of the major decisions taken so far by the government to promote sectarian harmony in the country by looking into the possibilities of bringing procedural changes in relevant laws.

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