Defence prays for acquittal of Omar Sheikh
HYDERABAD- Abdul Waheed Katpar, the counsel for Omar Sheikh, the principal accused in the Daniel Pearl kidnapping and murder case, completed his final arguments before the Anti-terrorism Court judge, Syed Ali Ashraf Shah, at the central jail here on Friday.
The counsel prayed to the court that Omar Sheikh be exonerated in the case as all the charges against him were false and based on premises and surmises.
Rai Basheer Ahmed, counsel for the co-accused, would begin his arguments on Saturday before the final arguments of Raja Qureshi, the chief prosecutor in the case and the Advocate General, Sindh.
Mr Katpar avoided briefing newsmen about the court proceedings again on Friday. Mohsin Imam and Mohammed Waris Bharwana, colleagues of Katpar and Mr Ahmed, respectively, revealed the details after attending the hearing.
According to Mr Imam, the defence explained the meaning of ‘conspiracy’ to prove that Omar Sheikh was not involved in any kind of conspiracy.
Referring to the confessional statements of the co-accused, Fahad Naseem and Salman Saqib, the defence said that the statements had no legal importance and could not be used against the principal accused.
The defence also rejected the prosecution’s evidences in the shape of items allegedly recovered from the possession of Omar Sheikh at the time of his arrest and produced before the court. The defence insisted that all these items were ‘false’.
The defence further contended that no independent witness or individual from public was brought in by police while preparing memos right from the arrest of Omar Sheikh to the alleged recovery of the items.
All the Musheers (prosecution witnesses), the defence claimed, were actually police officials. Thus, the defence said, the recovery of a wallet, containing two visiting cards, two receipts, two NICs and Rs300 and a script of demands (i.e the release of Pakistani prisoners detained at a US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and their trial in Pakistan; restoration of Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef as Afghanistan’s ambassador to Pakistan and refund of Pakistan’s money for purchase of US made F-16s) were false.
The defence said that police did not fulfill the requirements of section 103 Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.PC) in this context and also did not inform the court about the arrest of Omar Sheikh promptly.
The defence said that there was a contradiction with regard to Sheikh’s arrest and its date. His father and uncle, the defence added, deposed as defence witnesses that Omar surrendered to the Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Lahore, on Feb 5 while police claimed that he was ‘arrested’ on Feb 11 in Karachi. Moreover, the FBI agent, John Moligan, informed the court in his statement that he had seen all the four accused at the Crime Investigation Department (CID) Centre on Feb 11 and 12.
The defence told the court that the letter, produced in the court by Hameedullah Memon, who claimed to be the investigating officer (IO) of this case, did not contain anything, which could suggest that he was the actual IO. Instead, the defence added, the letter contained the name of Inspector Rao Aslam, who was entrusted with the investigation of the case.
The defence said that it would further argue the case if the prosecution presented anything new. Upon this, the chief prosecutor, Raja Qureshi, raised objection that law did not permit the defence to respond anymore as it had already closed the arguments.
Source: Dawn
Date:7/6/2002
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