KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Saturday accepted the charge sheet submitted by Sindh Police against Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain.

In the charge sheet submitted today, Altaf has been declared an absconder in a case pertaining to using threatening language against Pakistan Rangers Sindh.

The latest development comes after the court concluded a hearing of the case registered earlier against the MQM chief.

Investigation Officer (IO) Mohammad Naeem submitted a charge sheet in court under Section 512 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which was accepted by the presiding judge

During the hearing, IO stated in court that Altaf could not be produced in court as he is not present in Pakistan.

Read: Non-bailable arrest warrant issued for Altaf in Gilgit-Baltistan

Responding to which, the court directed the IO to continue his investigation and submit a report in this regard during the next hearing of the case.

A notice was also earlier issued to Altaf Hussain to appear in court.

The First Information Report (FIR) of the case was registered in March at Civil Lines police station by Colonel Tahir of Pakistan Rangers.

Earlier this week, a three-member bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) was constituted to assess the maintainability of a case against MQM chief for his earlier remarks about the Pakistan Army.

In July, FIRs were registered in different parts of the country against Altaf Hussain for remarks made by him against the chief of Rangers in Sindh and the paramilitary force in recent speeches.

Read more: FIRs lodged against Altaf Hussain across Sindh

In the FIRs, Hussain was accused of involvement in cases of criminal conspiracy, waging or attempting or abetting the waging of war against Pakistan and committing acts of terrorism.

In April, Director-General Inter-Services Public Relations Major-General Asim Bajwa had said that earlier statements made by the MQM chief regarding the Pakistan Army would be legally pursued.