KARACHI: An antiterrorism court on Saturday allowed Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan lawmaker Rauf Siddiqui to visit abroad.

The MQM MPA, through his lawyer Shaukat Hayat, moved an application seeking permission to travel to Saudi Arabia stating that he was an engineer and working with some consultancy firms in the Kingdom.

The counsel submitted that the visa of his client was going to expire and he had to visit Saudi Arabia for its renewal.

After hearing arguments, the ATC-II judge allowed the application and directed the applicant to submit an amount of Rs2 million as surety and appear before the court after one month.

Rauf Siddiqui is one of the co-accused in a case for sheltering and harbouring terrorists against former federal minister Dr Asim Hussain.

Dr Asim has been charged with allegedly treating and harbouring suspected terrorists, political militants and gangsters at his hospital at the behest of Pak Sarzameen Party President Anis Kaimkhani, Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar, Mr Siddiqui, PPP’s Abdul Qadir Patel, Usman Moazzam of Pasban and former MQM leader Saleem Shahzad.

Saleem Shahzad indicted for rioting

A sessions court indicted former MQM leader Saleem Shahzad in a 25-year-old case pertaining to rioting.

An additional district and sessions judge (east) read out the charges against the accused. However, he pleaded not guilty and opted to contest the case.

The court directed the prosecution to produce witnesses on the next hearing.

Meanwhile, the same court had also allowed an application of the former MQM leader regarding reduction in the surety amount.

On Friday, the court had granted him bail in two cases registered at the Landhi police station in 1992 against surety bonds of Rs1 million and Rs500,000, respectively.

On Saturday, the court reduced the amount to Rs500,000 and Rs300,000, respectively.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2017