The suspect arrested by capital police for the assassination of former minorities’ affairs minister Shahbaz Bhatti on Saturday was acquitted by Anti-Terrorism Court-II (ATC-II) on Saturday for lack of evidence. The hearing of the case was held in the court of ATC Judge Pervaiz Ali Shah. The accused, Hafiz Nazar, was produced by the capital police in court after completion of his physical remand. The court asked the police to present the findings of the interrogations during the five-day remand, upon which police requested the court to grant another eight days. The police told the court that it had failed to find links of the accused to the killers but it wanted more time for questioning. The court rejected the request and acquitted Nazar for lack of evidence against him and his name was excluded from the case.
Taseer murder case hearing adjourned till July 2: Anti-terrorism court (ATC) judge, Syed Zafar Shah, on Saturday adjourned the hearing of Salman Taseer murder case till July 2. The in-camera trial held at Adiala Jail. Magistrate Muhammad Ali Randhawa, who had recorded confessional statement of former governor’s assassin Mumtaz Qadri, appeared before the court. The defense counsels Malik Muhammad Raffique and Shujah-ur-Rehman cross examined the magistrate. Later ATC No 2 judge postponed proceedings of the case till July 2, 2011. A large number of Sunni Tehrik (ST) activists had also gathered outside the jail to express their support to Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, the self-confessed killer of Salman Taseer.
