Karachi, June 21: A Pakistani anti-terrorism court in this southern port city will next Saturday record statements from five militants accused of plotting to kill President Pervez Musharraf, defence lawyer Raza Abidi said. "The court will hear what the accused have to say about the evidence submitted against them and the trial will be over in the next two or three hearings," he said. All five - Mohammad Imran Bhai, Hanif Ayub, Arslan Sharib Farooqi, Mohammad Ashraf and Wasim Akhtar - were indicted last month on not guilty pleas. Bhai and Ayub were last month sentenced to death for a June 14, 2002 suicide car bomb attack outside the US Consulate in Karachi, in which 12 Pakistanis were killed.

Farooqi was sentenced to life imprisonment while Ashraf was acquitted in the case. Akhtar is a member of the paramilitary rangers force.


All five are members of the Islamic extremist organisationion Harkat-ul Mujahedin al-Aalmi, an offshoot of Harkat-ul Mujahedin, which sends Muslim guerrillas to fight Indian rule in the divided region of Kashmir.


Police allege the men parked an explosive-laden vehicle on a busy Karachi road where Musharraf's motorcade was expected to pass on April 26, last year.

The plot failed because their remote control detonator malfunctioned, according to police.

The same vehicle was later used in the us consulate attack. Bureau Report