Indictment of facilitators in Chinese consulate attack case deferred.

KARACHI -- An antiterrorism court deferred on Wednesday indictment of five alleged facilitators in the attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi.

The Counter-Terrorism Department booked and detained Mohammad Aslam, Ahmed Hasnain, Ali Ahmed, alias Hashim, Nadir Khan, alias Arif Buledi and Abdul Latif - all said to be associated with the banned separatist Baloch Liberation Army - for allegedly facilitating three heavily armed militants, who were killed while attempting to enter the Chinese consulate on Nov 23, 2018 in Clifton.

On Wednesday, the matter came up before the ATC-VII judge, who is conducting trial in the judicial complex inside the central prison, for indictment of the suspects in identical cases pertaining to the main attack, illicit arms and explosives.

However, the special public prosecutor Sajid Mehboob Shaikh informed that two identical cases that also pertained to the illicit weapons and explosives had been transferred to the ATC-X.

The judge deferred the indictment of the suspects and fixed the matter on Feb 13.

In a previous hearing, the investigating officer had filed a compliance report mentioning that non-bailable warrants could not be executed on 17 other suspects allegedly absconding in the present case since their whereabouts could not be ascertained since Nadra and the Election Commission of Pakistan did not have their identification data.

According to the prosecution, seven people, including three heavily armed militants, two policemen and two visitors - were shot dead in a gun-and-grenade attack by them on the Chinese consulate located in the high-security zone in Clifton's Block-4.

In a progress report, filed with the court in January 2019, the investigating officer had stated that the terrorists stormed the consulate building and started firing and throwing hand-grenades and also killed assistant sub-inspector Ashraf Dawood and police constable Mohammad Amir, who were posted at the first security checkpoint, while Mohammad Jumman, who was posted at the entrance to the visa section, was injured by their...