KARACHI: Defence attorneys yesterday challenged the jurisdiction of an anti-terrorism court trying five militants charged with attempting to assassinate Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
| "So they were trying to assassinate the president. Show me where it says that's terrorism!" |
The court was to announce tomorrow whether it was appropriate for the trial to convene in the anti-terror court, said prosecution lawyer Abdul Waheed Khan.
| It being a Pak court, there's no telling what it'll decide... |
Among the accused were two men already sentenced to death by a different court for masterminding a suicide car bomb attack outside the US consulate in Karachi that killed 12 Pakistanis. Police allege the accused had parked a Suzuki pick-up truck on a busy commercial road to blow up Musharraf's car when he was visiting this southern port city on April 26 to attend a rally. The same vehicle was later used in the June attack outside the US consulate.
| That was because they hosed the first explosion... |
In his petition, defence lawyer Abdul Waheed Katpar said the case had no substance and it did not not fall under the jurisdiction of an anti-terrorism court. "My plea is that neither any act of terrorism had been committed nor the action created any scare or panic in the public, therefore it does not fall in the jurisdiction of an anti-terrorism court," he said. All five defendants, Mohammad Imran Bhai, Hanif Ayub, Arslan Sharib Farooqi, Mohammad Ashraf and Wasim Akhtar, were indicted last month on not guilty pleas. |