KARACHI: City Mayor Wasim Akhtar and 19 others were on Saturday indicted in a second case pertaining to rioting and arson during the May 12, 2007 mayhem.

The Karachi mayor, Umair Siddiqui, Mohammad Nasir, Nasir Zia along with others have been booked for rioting, arson and terrorism in four identical cases registered at the Airport police station on May 12.

Around 50 people were killed and over 100 wounded in attacks on rallies by different political parties and the legal fraternity who had attempted to receive the then deposed chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry at Karachi airport ahead of a lawyers’ gathering.

CJP Chaudhry was forced to fly back to Islamabad after nine hours of being restricted to the airport. Mayor Akhtar was the provincial home adviser to the chief minister at the time.

The antiterrorism court-II judge read out charges against the accused persons, who were all present in court.

Wasim Akhtar has denied charges before the judge of ATC-II

The charge was framed in a case, FIR 86/2007, which was pending trial along with three other cases before the trial court, as the prosecution failed to make any breakthrough in the investigation.

All those charged, including Mr Akhtar, pleaded not guilty and opted to contest the case. The court directed the prosecution to produce its witnesses on the next hearing, which was fixed for Oct 27 to record their testimonies.

The Karachi mayor and at least 18 others are currently out on bail, while 16 others are absconding. Only one of those charged, Umair Siddiqui, is in jail.

Currently, four cases pertaining to the May 12 mayhem are pending trial before ATC-II and three before ATC-III.

After the passage of almost 11 years since the deadly events, the same court had indicted Mayor Akhtar along with other co-accused in an identical case on May 13.

According to the prosecution, Mr Akhtar had allegedly admitted his involvement before the police during interrogations, and on a lead given by him one of the key suspects, Aslam alias Kala, was arrested. It further said that the police had recovered a weapon from Aslam, which was allegedly used in the killings during the riots.

The same set of accused have been nominated in all the identical cases registered under Sections 146 (rioting), 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 109 (abatement) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 at the Airport police station.

However, the cases took a dramatic turn after nine years when the Rangers on Dec 16, 2016 arrested then MPA Kamran Farooq belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, who was absconding in several cases pertaining to May 12.

Farooq, who was booked in two cases for allegedly carrying grenades and unlicensed weapons, had recorded his confessional statement before a judicial magistrate under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), making startling revelations about the alleged involvement of the MQM leadership in one of the most violent episodes of the country’s history.

In his confessional statement, recorded on Dec 20, the then interned MPA had not only confessed to his involvement in the May 12, 2007 mayhem but also implicated party leader Dr Farooq Sattar.

According to his statement, he joined the MQM in 2000 and worked as the party’s “unit and sector in-charge”. He disclosed before the magistrate that a meeting was held on May 10, 2007 at the party’s Nine Zero headquarters in the presence of Dr Sattar, Siddiqui and other leaders.

He said that the “party leadership” had asked him and other “sector in-charges” to ensure that lawyers could not reach the Karachi airport to welcome CJP Chaudhry. He said that he, along with his armed accomplices, blocked many thoroughfares on May 12, 2007 and resorted to firing, leaving many wounded.

A spokesperson for the MQM had rejected Farooq’s statement in custody.

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2018