Judge refuses to hear case

An anti-terrorist court judge yesterday refused to hear the trial of three militants accused of masterminding the bombing outside the U.S. consulate, demanding a proper court room inside the Karachi Central Jail, senior police and court officials said.

The trial of the militants – Mohammed Imran, Mohammed Hanif and Mohammed Ashraf – belonging to the shadowy Harakatul Mujahideen, has been postponed till September 5 after the judge Aale Maqbool Rizvi did not show up at the Karachi Central Jail for the second consecutive hearing, asking for a proper court room, they said.

"I agree with the judge that a proper court room is needed to hold the trial," Nisar Mehar, inspector general of prisons in southern Sindh province, told Gulf News.

"Right now we don't have facilities and funds to furnish and equip the hall where initial proceedings were heard," he said.

The Karachi Jail has only one proper courtroom, where proceedings of several other cases of terrorism are under way.

"We cannot stop the trials of other accused to accommodate this new case," Mehar said. The trail is being held inside the prison because of security concerns.

Police say that moving dangerous prisoners daily in and out of jail for the proceedings in the court is risky because their aides might attack.

The much-publicised trial of British-born militant Ahmed Omar Sheikh and his three aides involved in the kidnap and killing of U.S. reporter Daniel Pearl was also initially held in Karachi prison before being transferred to a jail in Hyderabad.

Mehar said if immediate grants are provided the jail authorities are in a position to provide a courtroom within four to six days. The jail is a secure place and here the judge, lawyers or witnesses are fully protected, he said.

Earlier the police said that Rizvi refused to attend the proceedings on security concerns.

The accused have been charged with murder, attempted murder, terrorism and using explosives in the June 14 suicide car bomb attack outside the U.S. consulate, which killed 12 Pakistanis. If convicted, these charges carry the death sentence.