KARACHI: Almost a year after their arrest, an antiterrorism court indicted on Wednesday 26 workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement in over 50 cases pertaining to explosives and illicit weapons.

They were among the over 100 men picked up during a pre-dawn raid by the Rangers at and around the MQM headquarters Nine Zero in Azizabad on March 11 last year for allegedly keeping unlicensed weapons and explosive substances.

ATC-VI Judge Abdul Naeem Memon, who is conducting the trial inside the central prison after clubbing the cases, read out the charges against Faisal Mehmood, alias Mota, who was sentenced to death by an ATC in absentia in March 2014 for the murder of journalist Wali Babar; Shabbir Ahmed, alias Farhan Mullah, Ubaid, alias K2, Syed Rizwan Ali, Mohammad Faizan, alias Osama, Tauseef Ahmed, Waji-ur-Rehman, Nadir Shah, Syed Mumtaz Hussain, Mehmood Hasan, Mohammad Naeem, Mohammad Abid, Mohammad Faizan, Sajid Ali, Mohammad Zubair, Mohammad Noman, alias Maano, Syed Haseeb Raheem, Mohammad Asif, Amir Ali, alias Sarphata, Imtaiz Hussain, Abdul Qadir, Nadeem Ahmed, Kazim Raza, Mohammad Javed, Mohammad Shakeel and Amir, alias Totla.

However, they pleaded not guilty and opted to contest the cases. The court summoned the prosecution witnesses with the direction to record their evidence on March 17.

The delay in the trial commencement, court officials said, was owing to the holdup in submission of final charge sheets and supply of complete documents to the accused as well as an inordinate delay in the issuance of a permission letter by the home department to begin the trial.

According to Section 7 of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908, no court shall proceed to the trial of any person for an offence against this act except with the consent of the provincial government.

However, a provision is available in Section 19 of the ATA that if the consent or sanction of the appropriate authority, where required, is not received within 30 days of the submission of charge sheet in court, the same shall be deemed to have been given or accorded and the court shall proceed with the trial of the case.

Following their arrest, the paramilitary force had handed the 26 accused over to the police and they were booked in 52 cases under Section 23(1)(a) of the Sindh Arms Act, 2013 and Section 4/5 of the Explosive Substances Act read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 at the Azizabad police station.

The Rangers had also picked up MQM leader Amir Khan during the March 11 raid with around 60 others and held them in 90-day preventive detention for an inquiry under Section 11-EEEE of the ATA after contending that they were placed under confinement upon receiving credible information about their alleged involvement in targeted killing and terrorism.

At the end of his three-month detention, the paramilitary force had handed Amir Khan over to the police in June last year after lodging a case against him and others for allegedly harbouring criminals at the party’s headquarters and using them for terrorist activities.

Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2016