Order reserved on Rangers' plea for calling magistrate as witness.

KARACHI -- An antiterrorism court on Saturday reserved its order till June 13 on an application moved by a Rangers prosecutor for recording testimony of a judicial magistrate in a case against former federal minister Dr Asim Hussain pertaining to alleged treatment and harbouring of suspected terrorists at his hospitals.

Dr Asim, a close aide to former president Asif Ali Zardari, with five others has been charged with treating and harbouring suspected terrorists, political militants and gangsters at the North Nazimabad and Clifton branches of his hospital at the behest of some politicians.

Others booked in the case including Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan's Amir Khan, Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar, Rauf Siddiqui, Pak Sarzameen Party president Anis Kaimkhani, PPP leader Abdul Qadir Patel and Pasban leader Usman Moazzam.

Counsel for Dr Asim opposes the plea as 'meritless'

On Saturday, the ATC-II judge took up an application filed by Special Public Prosecutor for Rangers Sajid Mehboob Shaikh under Section 540 of the criminal procedure code.

In the application, the prosecutor mentioned that the investigating officer of the case, DSP Altaf Hussain, had supplied the copies of documentary evidence of the case to the counsel for the parties.

It further mentioned that the a list of 19 prosecution witnesses, including a judicial magistrate (East), who had recorded the alleged confessional statement of a witness, Dr Yousuf Sattar, the then managing director of the Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Hospitals.

The prosecutor argued that later the IO filed a final charge sheet in court in which he listed 16 witnesses and excluded judicial magistrate and two others from it.

Therefore, the court was pleaded to allow the application and summon the judicial magistrate concerned for recording his statement along with the record of the alleged confessional statement of Dr Sattar.

On the other hand, Dr Asim's counsel, Amir Raza Naqvi, opposed the application and pleaded to...