In an important development, two eyewitnesses Monday identified three terrorists including Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) notorious target-killer Saeed Bharam in the Tahir Plaza fire case. “Saeed Bharam and his accomplices opened fire and set ablaze the lawyers’ offices in the plaza in Karachi,” the eyewitnesses stated in their testimonies during the hearing of the case in an anti-terrorism court (ATC). Statements of eyewitnesses, witnesses, the rickshaw-driver and the gunman of the murdered lawyer were also recorded.

 “On the day of the incident, I was near Tahir Plaza,” the rickshaw-driver said. “Suddenly, there were gunshots and a stampede. I myself saw Saeed Bharam and other accused firing shots,” he added. “I had also identified them during the identification parade in front of the judicial magistrate,” he stated. “Saeed Bharam and other accused had entered Tahir Plaza. These are the same suspects who had set fire to the lawyers’ offices in Tahir Plaza. I had seen them setting fire to the lawyer’s office with my own eyes,” he added.

The court summoned other witnesses in the case at the next hearing. “MQM’s Saeed Bharam, Imran Saeed, and Faisal Javed alias Mama are arrested in the case,” police said. “Imran Saeed confessed to setting Tahir Plaza on fire in his 164 statements and the statements he recorded to the joint investigation team (JIT),” they added. “The accused set fire to Tahir Plaza at the behest of MQM Karachi Tanzeemi Committee (KTC) In-charge Hammad Siddiqui,” they stated.

“In front of the magistrate, Imran Saeed confessed to setting fire to the plaza at the behest of Hammad Siddiqui and Saeed Bharam,” they added. According to police, the accused also disclosed his involvement in the Tahir Plaza fire incident during the police interrogation. Accused Faisal Mama was arrested in 2021. On April 9, 2008, six people, including Altaf Jafri Advocate, died in a fire in Tahir Plaza. The case of the incident was registered at Rasala police station.

 
Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)