On April 12, 2016, a policeman in Karachi’s anti-terrorism court accidentally set off a grenade detonator while demonstrating it to the judge. Constable Liaquat Ali had just said the device was safe, then pulled the pin to show its simplicity. He injured his hands, court assistant Shoaib Ahmed was hit by shrapnel, and the judge fell from his chair as panic swept the building.
Proceedings stopped while a bomb squad checked the rest of the seized weapons and explosives. Police registered a case against Ali for mishandling evidence that should have been managed by bomb technicians. T
he mishap unfolded during a case involving heavy weapons and echoed security lapses a year earlier, when a bomb-plot suspect escaped mid-trial from the same court complex.
