KARACHI: The Sindh government has formally allowed the formation of a joint investigation team (JIT) to interrogate new city mayor Waseem Akhtar for his role in an alleged “criminal conspiracy” and “condemnation of the creation of state and advocacy of abolition of its sovereignty”, said an official on Wednesday.

It was alleged that Mr Akhtar committed this crime in July while being part of the crowd that was hearing London-based Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief’s speech that carried anti- military and security agencies remarks.

Through an order issued by the home department, the Sindh government gave a nod for the JIT formation on a city police recommendation but there was no word from the authorities about the law enforcement and intelligence agencies which would question Mr Akhtar, who has been in prison for more than a month.

The order said the JIT was being formed on strong recommendation of the Karachi police who wanted the suspect mayor to be investigated about his role in two cases.

“The two cases were registered at the Sachal and the Malir City police stations earlier this year,” said the official.

He added that the cases were registered under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 121(waging or attempting to wage war or abetting waging of war against Pakistan), 122 (collection of arms, etc. with intention of waging war against Pakistan), 123-A (condemnation of the creation of state and advocacy of abolition of its sovereignty), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of woman), and 109 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 29 of the Telegraph Act read with Section 7 of the Anti-terrorism Act, 1997.

“More than 100 cases were registered across the country on identical allegations against the MQM chief and other party leaders for his alleged remarks in a speech on July 12 last year against the military establishment and security agencies. Wasim Akhtar and other leaders were also booked in these cases on the same charges. The JIT, however, will focus on these two cases against him.”

Mr Akhtar has already been in prison since July 19 when an anti-terrorism court sent him and other political leaders to jail dismissing their bail in a case related to allegedly abetting the treatment of alleged terrorists and gangsters at the hospitals of former federal minister Dr Asim Hussain, the main suspect in the case.

The Sachal police arrested the mayor from the central prison on July 20 after obtaining a no-objection certificate from the ATC for his arrest in some other cases. Only on Tuesday, Mr Akhtar was sworn in as the new mayor of Karachi – about nine months after holding of the local government elections – but with new orders in place his and MQM’s hardships are not seen to be over very soon.

Published in Dawn September 1st, 2016