M A I N   N E W S

Heavy shelling by Pak

SRINAGAR, April 12 (UNI, PTI) — Mortar and artillery shelling by Pakistani troops continued throughout the night in Keran and Karnah sectors, while seven militants and a security jawan were among 10 persons killed in the Kashmir valley during the past 24 hours.

However, there was no report of any casualty or damage to property in the shelling, official sources said.

A Defence Ministry spokesman said troops of Kilo Force killed three militants at Natpura village in Bandipora today.

Militants attacked a police station and the house of state Works’ Minister in down town city last evening, causing injuries to 13 police personnel.

Official sources said that militants attacked Safa-Kadal police station with grenades and automatic weapons. Ten Jammu and Kashmir police and three CRPF personnel were injured in the ensuing exchange of fire, which continued for about 20 minutes.

However, the militants escaped under the cover of darkness. This was the first major attack on a police station in down town city in the recent past.

Militants also hurled grenades towards the guarded ancestral house of state Works’ Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar at Zaldagar in down town city last evening. However, the grenades exploded without causing any damage.

Security guards posted there returned the fire, but there were no casualties.

Two persons, including a woman, were injured when a mine exploded at Rawalpora bypass this afternoon. A Maruti car was also badly damaged in the blast.

Militants lobbed a hand grenade towards a security force vehicle at Bandipora this morning, but it exploded on the roadside without causing any damage.

An official spokesman said two militants, a security force jawan and a woman were killed during an hour-long encounter at Gool last evening. In another encounter, forces gunned down two militants at Darsingla last evening, while militants shot at and wounded a jawan at Rajouri last night.

People at Ali-Kadal in down town city took to the streets when the body of All-Party Kashmir Hurriyat Conference activist Niyaz Ahmad Sofi was handed over to his relatives by the police today.

Business activities in the area came to a halt and transport went off the road in protest against Sofi’s killing. The demonstrators alleged that he was arrested by security forces from APKHC office at Rajbagh yesterday and later tortured to death.

A top militant of Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) outfit was captured here today, an official spokesman said.

The breakthrough was achieved when policemen raided a militant hideout on a specific information.

Terming the arrest of the self-styled launching commander of LeT as a “prize catch”, a spokesman said 1.5 kg of explosive and 13 AK rounds were recovered from the possession of the captured militant.

The spokesman did not divulge the name of the militant, saying it would hamper the investigation.

Sharif challenges conviction

KARACHI, April 12 (PTI) — Six days after he was sentenced to life imprisonment for hijacking and terrorism, Pakistan’s deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today filed an appeal in the Sindh High Court against his conviction, lawyers said.

The petition was filed by a leading criminal lawyer, Azizullah Sheikh, who was hired by Mr Sharif after the anti-terrorism court judge Rehmat Hussain Jaffri sentenced him to life imprisonment but acquitted six co-accused, including his brother Shahbaz, on April 6.

Mr Sharif’s conviction on the hijacking and terrorism charges stemmed from his attempt to prevent a passenger plane carrying Army Chief Gen Pervez Musharraf from landing in Karachi on October 12, 1999.

Mr Sheikh handed the appeal to the Deputy Registrar of the Sindh High Court, Ali Mohammad, who said a date for a preliminary hearing would be fixed after scrutiny of the documents.

A two-member Bench comprising Mr Justice Abdul Hamid Dogar and Mr Justice S.A. Rabbani will hear the case after the appeal is admitted.

Mr Sheikh hoped that his client would be acquitted as the anti-terrorism court judge had already acquitted six other co-accused in the same case.

In his appeal, Mr Sheikh argued that “the learned trial judge while passing the impugned judgement derogated from the well-entrenched principles of safe administration of justice.”

“The learned trial judge has also committed a grave error of law in selecting portions of depositions of witnesses in order to justify the conviction of the appellant rather than reading the deposition of witnesses as a whole,” he said.

The 12-page appeal also challenged the judge’s forfeiture of Mr Sharif’s property, imposing of a fine and order to pay compensation of two million rupees.

Mr Sheikh said Mr Sharif’s sentence be suspended while the appeal is dealt with.

He has taken a plea that there is lot of contradiction in the statements of the prosecution witnesses and the benefit of doubt should go in favour of the ousted Prime Minister.

The April 6 judgement had come under criticism from some western countries while army ruler General Pervez Musharraf had defended the verdict as absolutely fair.