HYDERABAD- Shaikh Omar, the main accused, and three co-accused in the Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl’s kidnapping and murder case were shifted to Hyderabad on Thursday night.
Heavy contingents of police and the Rangers headed by Inspector-General (IG) Prisons Brigadier Nisar Meher, escorted the prisoners’ vehicles, carrying the accused from Central Prison, Karachi to the Central Prison, Hyderabad.
Shaikh Omar and co-accused Salman Saqib were in the same vehicle, while other co-accused, Fahad Naseem and Shaikh Adil, were brought in two separate vehicles. All the accused were hand-cuffed, wearing white Shalwar-Kameez. They were shifted to B-Class ward by the jail authorities.
Sources inside the jail said that all the four accused had been lodged in separate barracks for the security reasons. The jail administration has adopted extra security measures, in view of jail trial of the accused.
Earlier, a high level team of the jail officials and the Home Department checked the arrangements at the jail and discussed the security measures, which included segregation of the accused from other prisoners, particularly the religious extremists, jailed in the Central Prison, Hyderabad.
The trial in the Pearl case will resume on Friday. However, it is learnt that defence counsels of four accused, including Khwaja Naveed Ahmed, Abdul Waheed Katpar, Rai Bashir and Mohsin Imam will not attend the proceedings.
The Sindh High Court ordered the venue be changed from Karachi prison earlier this week after prosecutors claimed the courtroom and lawyers were under threat. “The trial will resume on Friday and at least two prosecution witnesses are expected to record their statements,” chief prosecutor Raja Qureshi said. Defence lawyer Abdul Waheed Katpar said an appeal could be filed to halt the venue change.
“A senior lawyer, Justice SK Samdani, is expected to file a petition in the Supreme Court in the next few days,” he told sources. Defence lawyers were unlikely to attend the trial on Friday, he added. “If the defence failed to attend the proceedings, the prosecution will still request the court to record the statement of the witnesses and adjourn the hearing for cross-examination from the defence,” Qureshi said.
Source: The News
Date:5/3/2002
