KARACHI: The Custom Court on Wednesday postponed the hearing of 16 customs and income tax related cases due to massacre in Quetta.
At least 14 cases were fixed before the custom court; however, representative of the Sindh High Court Bar Association informed the court that in order to condemn Quetta massacre, the Pakistan Bar Council and other legal bodies have announced black day and full day strike. Lawyers requested that the court may suspend the proceeding of the day; therefore, the Custom Court judge postponed the hearing of these cases.
Another side, Sindh High Court also has suspended the work due to legal bodies’ strike call. Custom and income tax related cases were fixed before two, benches.
Meanwhile, Custom Court Judge Syed Faiz Rasool Rashdi on Thursday will take up 18 custom and income tax related cases.
According to the cause list, three cases out of 18 cases are fixed for formal hearing of accused namely as Muhammad Yaseen and others, and Abdul Hameed and others.
Nine out of overall 18 cases are fixed for prosecution evidences against accused namely as Mehmood Ali Iqbal & others, Akhtar Hussain, Muhammad Babar Khan, Muhammad Javaid & others, Abdul Wali & others, Muhammad Altaf & others, Asad Qasim, Qaiser Waqas and Asher Faisal Khan.
Remaining six cases were fixed for confirmation of bails of accused named Tauseef Mirza & others, Muhammad Nadeem & others, Asif Malik & others, Abdul Ghani Khanani and Naseer Ahmed and others.
The Custom Court has already issued notice and summoned the both side parties and directed them to appear before the court with their progress report. The court also has directed the custom authorities to produce the accused persons who are in custom custody.