KARACHI: An antiterrorism court reissued on Saturday non-bailable warrants for the arrest of Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain, the party’s Pakistan chapter convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and two other leaders in three identical cases of hate speech.

MQM-Pakistan leader Dr Farooq Sattar, party founder Altaf Hussain, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Dr Amir Liaquat Hussain, Amir Khan, Rashid Godil, Haider Abbas Rizvi, Salman Mujahid, Khushbakht Shujaat and some other party leaders have been declared absconders in two main cases registered at the Quaidabad police station after a highly provocative speech of the MQM founder on Aug 22, 2016 outside the Karachi Press Club that triggered a violent protest, arson attacks and ransacking of media houses.

On Saturday, Dr Farooq Sattar, Amir Khan, Khwaja Izharul Hasan, Qamar Mansoor, Kanwar Naveed, Shahid Pasha, Amjadullah and some others appeared in court.

The investigating officer filed investigation reports in five remaining cases. The antiterrorism courts concerned recorded statements of the IOs, who expressed their inability to execute the bailable warrants issued earlier against the absconding accused.

In the last hearing, the investigating officer had also submitted final charge sheets, mentioning Altaf Hussain, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Rashid Godil, Haider Abbas Rizvi, Salman Mujahid and others as absconders.

Therefore the courts issued non-bailable warrants against the absconders and directed the IOs to arrest them and produce in courts on Sept 8.

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2018