Arrest warrants issued in Rubaiya Sayeed case

Jammu, Mar 12: The special TADA and POTA court of Jammu and Kashmir has issued non-bailable arrest warrants against six of the nine accused, including Javed Ahmad Mir alias Nalka, involved in the controversial kidnapping case of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of then Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, from Srinagar in December 1989.

Presiding officer special designated court under TADA/POTA, Jammu, N D Wani issued the warrants yesterday against Javed Mir, Mohammad Rafiq Pahloo, Wajahat Shabir, Mehraj-ud-din, Iqbal Bandu and Yaqoob Pandit.

However, only three of the accused--Showkat Bakshi, Ghulam Hassan Sofi and Zaman Mir--were present in the court.

The warrants have been sent to SSP Srinagar to produce the accused without any delay.

The court observed, due to the absence of the six from the court, on one pretext or the other, a chargesheet could not be filed in the case so far, which has caused inordinate delay in the resolution of the case.

Five militants were released by the then V P Singh government in lieu of Rubaiya, including Abdul Hamid Sheikh, then deputy commander in chief of JKLF.

UNI