KARACHI: Workers and office-bearers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement warmly welcomed senior leader Aamir Khan at the party headquarters, Nine Zero, when he reached there after being released from prison on bail on Tuesday.

His release order was issued by the anti-terrorism court-II after a surety bond of Rs1 million was submitted by Mr Khan’s lawyer. The court directed the superintendent of the Karachi central prison to release Mr Khan if not required in any other criminal case.

A number of MQM workers and some senior leaders received Mr Khan when he came out of the Karachi central prison. He was taken to Azizabad in a convoy of vehicles and at Nine Zero, members of the MQM coordination committee and a number of workers welcomed and showered him with rose petals.

Talking to the media, Mr Khan said that hundreds of MQM workers had been arrested and they were being tortured in prison. “All the workers are united and will remain steadfast in their loyalty to the MQM even in these tough times.”

He said that the MQM and Altaf Hussain were working for the solidarity and progress of Pakistan and the false and fabricated allegations of being anti-state and treason could not shake the confidence of the masses in the party and its leadership.

Mr Hussain was always loyal to Pakistan and he had no need to get a certificate of patriotism from anyone, he said.

He said that a conspiracy was hatched against the MQM but the MQM would foil the nefarious designs of those who wanted to crush the MQM.

Mr Khan also offered Fateha for the slain MQM worker Waqas Shah who was killed during the March 11 Rangers raid.

Speaking on the occasion, MQM lawmaker Kanwar Naveed Jameel said that Mr Khan was released on bail and expressed the hope that he would be exonerated from all ‘false and fabricated’ charges very soon.

On Monday, the ATC-II granted bail to Mr Khan, who had spent around four months in prison, in a case pertaining to instigating terrorism and harbouring criminals.

On March 11, the Rangers had taken him into custody during a pre-dawn raid on and around the Nine Zero in which the paramilitary force also claimed to have arrested dozens of wanted suspects.

The paramilitary force had claimed that they had apprehended nearly half-a-dozen targeted killers during the raid — including Faisal Mehmood aka Mota who had been sentenced to death in absentia for his involvement in the murder of journalist Wali Khan Babar.

The Rangers had detained Mr Khan for three months for investigations and on June 4 handed him over to police after registering an FIR against him for allegedly providing shelter to 26 wanted suspects and using them for terrorist activities.

A case was registered under Sections 11V (directing terrorist activities), 21J (harbouring any person who committed an offence under this act) and 7 (punishment for act of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 on a complaint of a Rangers official at the Azizabad police station.

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2015

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