KARACHI: The administrative judge of antiterrorism courts remanded on Tuesday three leaders and 11 workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement in police custody in a case pertaining to the attacks on media houses.

Police produced MQM leaders Kanwar Naveed Jameel, Qamar Mansoor and Shahid Pasha and 11 party activists — Rao Tariq, Mohammed Saleem, Syed Arshad Ali, Abdul Rehman, Nadeem, Mohammed Nasir, Irfan, Mohammed Asif, Fahim Danish, Mohammed Subhan and Sabiuddin — before court.

The investigating officer sought their 14-day custody for questioning and arrest of their absconding accomplices. The administrative judge handed them over to police on three-day physical remand.

According to the FIR, after listening to a highly-provocative speech of their London-based chief Altaf Hussain on Monday at the hunger strike camp outside the Karachi Press Club, the activists resorted to a violent protest, ransacking media houses, killing one Syed Azan Arif, wounding around seven others, torching a police van and a motorbike, rioting and clashing with police.

The case was registered under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 324 (attempted murder), 353 (criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 123-A (condemnation of the creation of the state and advocacy of abolition of its sovereignty), 124-A (sedition), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 435 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to cause damage, etc), 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house, etc), 337 (shajjah), 506-B (criminal for intimidation) and 109 (abetment) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 at the Artillery Madian police station.

Besides 1,500 to 2,000 unidentified men and women, the police also named around a dozen party leaders, including Dr Farooq Sattar, Amir Khan and Gul Faraz Khattak, as absconders in the remand papers.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2016