KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s mayoral nominee, Waseem Akhtar, was on Friday granted pre-arrest bail in as many as 25 more cases including the one registered against Dr Asim Hussain, a close aide of former president Asif Ali Zardari, for treating and harbouring terrorists at his hospitals.

A two-judge bench headed by Justice Sadiq Hussain Bhatti gave him interim pre-arrest bail in the cases for a sum of Rs10,000 each till Jan 22 and directed him to approach respective trial courts for further proceedings.

Mr Akhtar, who also served as a former adviser to the Sindh government on home affairs, was on Wednesday given protective bail in two cases for a sum of Rs50,000.

The MQM’s mayoral candidate, who won a union committee chairman seat in Karachi’s district east, along with several other party leaders and workers was booked in 26 identical cases about supporting party chief Altaf Hussain’s telephonic speech against the army.

He is also a co-accused in the case against Dr Asim who is facing charges of treating and harbouring terrorists. Mr Akhtar is accused of asking Dr Asim for the treatment of terrorists at Ziauddin Hospital branches in Clifton and North Nazimabad.

Besides, the same bench gave pre-arrest bail to Muttahida leader Haider Abbas Rizvi in three cases about breach of peace and violation of Loudspeaker Act.

Earlier, Mr Akhtar had filed a constitutional petition seeking cancellation of the cases. The petition is still pending disposal.

The Muttahida leader was booked in the cases under Sections 123-A, 124-A of the Pakistan Penal Code, read with the Section 25 of the Telegraph Act and Sections 6/7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act on a complaint lodged by private persons.

The complainants in the FIR alleged that during a television current affairs programme, Mr Akhtar had supported his party chief’s statement against the federal institutions, the Inter-Services Intelligence and the Military Intelligence, operation Zarb-i-Azb and the Karachi operation.

His counsel, advocate Khawaja Naveed stated that in the cases, bogus allegations had been levelled against the MQM leader. The complainants did not have locus standi to lodge the he said FIRs.

Advocate Khawaja Naveed said that the marriage of his client’s daughter was scheduled to be held on Jan 12 while the MQM leader feared his arrest.

Earlier, an antiterrorism court reissued arrest warrants for 20 MQM leaders including Altaf Hussain, Farooq Sattar, Waseem Akhtar, Nasreen Jalil, Khushbakht Shujaat, Rashid Godil, Khawaja Izhar, Qamar Mansoor and Rauf Siddiqui for delivering and listening to speech against the military establishment.

The MQM leaders and 200 unidentified party workers were booked in 23 FIRs in which the complainants alleged that the accused had attended a public gathering and facilitated the MQM chief in his speech against the security agencies on July 12 this year.

Warrants out in loudspeaker violation case

A judicial magistrate issued on Wednesday non-bailable warrants for the arrest of 10 MQM leaders in a case about misuse of loudspeakers and rioting.

Police had booked the MQM leaders and workers for allegedly taking out a rally without permission near the Quaid’s mausoleum, blocking roads, misusing loudspeakers and rioting on Nov 26 in protest over frequent raids and arrests of party workers by Rangers.

The investigation officer submitted a charge-sheet in the court in which Dr Sattar, Mr Akhtar, Ms Nasreen Jalil, Wasay Jalil, Faisal Subzwari, Mr Rizvi, Kanwar Naveed Jameel, Muhammad Hussain, Kamal Pasha and 1,500-2,000 unknown MQM workers were shown as absconders.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2016