KARACHI: Rangers on Friday informed an antiterrorism court about 90-day preventive detention of nine workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement for questioning.

Rangers personnel along with their legal team produced Zubair Ashraf, Adnan Ashraf, Fayyaz, Hasan Abbas, Imtiaz, Nisar Alam, Hamid, Shakir Raza and Ismail in the chamber of the judge in charge of the ATC-II, Anandram Sairani, amid tight security.

The Rangers law officer informed the court that the suspects were picked up within the jurisdiction of the Rizvia Society police station upon receiving credible information about their alleged involvement in extorting money, targeted killing and other offences that came within the ambit of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997.

Therefore, he said, they were placed under preventive detention for three months under Section 11EEEE (1) of the ATA for inquiry. In compliance with Section 11 EEEE (3) of the ATA, the detainees were produced along with their detention orders, jail warrants and other documents for the information of the court, he added.

The Rangers claimed to have arrested 16 MQM workers on July 1 in Rizvia Society for allegedly extorting money from residents in the name of Fitra and seized about Rs31,500 in cash and 1,000 chits of Fitra from their custody.

However, the MQM took strong exception to the move and asked which law restrained a welfare organisation from collecting Fitra since it said the donations were collected for the Khidmat-i-Khalq Foundation, the charity wing of the party.

Meanwhile, the paramilitary force also produced two other suspects before another antiterrorism court and informed it about their three-month detention.

The Rangers said that Sanaullah and Fawad-ul-Haq were picked up in Defence for their alleged involvement in extorting money and Fitra from traders and other terrorism-related activities.

Suspect remanded

An antiterrorism court remanded a man in police custody in an illicit weapon case.

Suspect Syed Asif Ali, said to be a political worker, has been booked for allegedly killing MQM worker Waqas Shah during a pre-dawn raid carried out by Rangers on the party’s Nine Zero headquarters in Azizabad on March 11.

The paramilitary force claimed to have arrested the suspect in Shahdadpur on June 25. Later, he was handed over to police and the court remanded him in police custody till July 11.

The police produced the suspect in court and submitted that the crime weapon was found on a lead given by the suspect and sought his remand in the illicit weapon case.

The court remanded the suspect in police custody till July 11.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play