Karachi, Oct 11: Prosecutors today demanded a 10-year prison sentence for five Islamic militants accused of a plot to murder Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, court officials said. The demand came as prosecution and defence concluded arguments in the trial being held for security reasons in a makeshift court in Karachi's prison.

"I have proven my case in the court and demanded maximum punishment for all the five accused, which is 10-year rigorous imprisonment," public prosecutor Maula Bux Bhatti told reporters after the hearing.

Anti-terrorism court judge Aale Maqbool Rizvi is expected to deliver the verdict on October 18, following a trial that has gone on for six months.
Ayub, Mohammad Imran Bhai, Arslan Sharaib Farooqui, Mohammad Ashraf and Wasim Akhtar are accused of trying to blow up Musharraf's car as his convoy travelled along a busy highway from Karachi's airport on April 26, last year.
The attempt failed, police say, because the remote-controlled detonator for an explosive-laden van malfunctioned.
All five belong to the Islamic extremist group Harkat-ul-Mujahedin al-Alaami, an offshoot of a guerrilla group fighting in Kashmir, according to police.
Defence lawyer Khawaja Naveed said he had asked the judge to free his client, Ashraf, because the prosecution failed to prove charges against him.

"The prosecution offered no substantial evidence in the court that could prove the case and I have requested the court to set my client free as the case is fabricated," Naveed told news agencies.
Bureau Report