KARACHI: The Sindh home ministry has preferred to keep silent over a recent recommendation made by the city police that mayor Waseem Akhtar be enlisted in the fourth schedule, it emerged on Monday.

The deputy inspector general of police, East Zone Karachi, had recently recommended to the senior authorities in the police, the recommendation later sent to the home ministry, that Waseem Akhtar, the mayor of Karachi, be enlisted in the fourth schedule under section 11EE of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

In a letter titled ‘Request for enlist(ing) the name of accused Waseem Akhtar, son of Mehmood Khan of MQM (A)’, the recommendation was first made by the senior superintendent of police, Malir district, and sent to the DIG-East in November, who later forwarded it to the additional inspector general of police, Karachi Range.

The move was originally taken by the SDPO-Airport on Oct 29, 2016 with ‘a report’ of the Airport SHO, which recommended the action against the mayor.

The mayor had taken oath on Aug 23 while behind bars facing charges of facilitating and providing medical treatment to alleged terrorists and gangsters at PPP leader Dr Asim Hussain’s hospital.

He assumed the charge on Nov 17 after getting bail in all the cases against him.

Officials said the recommendation to put him on the fourth schedule were made while he was still in jail. However, the communication was sent to the home ministry after he assumed the charge.

Officials in the home ministry said they had received a communication from the city police, but so far no action had been taken, or even intended to be taken, by the government.

“We received it recently, but so far the government has no intention to take action in accordance with the police’s recommendations,” said a senior official.

‘It is a cruel joke’

Mayor Akhtar was stunned by the police recommendation as he talking to Dawn he said: “Neither am I a terrorist, nor having an affiliation with any militant or terrorist organisation. Why such a recommendation has been made against a mayor elected by 25 million people of Karachi.

“I am on bail by the honourable court for all charges against me. I am not a terrorist, I repeat. I represent the country’s largest city.

“It is a cruel joke.”

Under Section 11EE [Proscription of person] a person can be listed “as a proscribed person” in the Fourth Schedule on an ex-parte basis, if there are reasonable grounds to believe that, such a person is an activist, office-bearer or an associate of an organisation kept under observation; and in any way concerned or suspected to be concerned with such an organisation or affiliated with any group or organisation suspected to be involved in terrorism or sectarianism or acting on behalf of, or at the behest of, any person or organisation banned under this Act.

Published in Dawn, January 17th, 2017