KARACHI: An antiterrorism court granted on Friday bail to 147 leaders and activists of nationalist parties arrested in cases pertaining to allegedly resorting to violence, ransacking and torching private properties in Bahria Town Karachi (BTK) during their protest against the mega housing project.

Police booked leaders and activists of several nationalist parties — under the umbrella of Sindh Action Committee — for allegedly torching restaurants, shops, vehicles and looting money from ATMs during their protest on the Superhighway on June 6. On Friday, the suspects moved applications seeking grant of post-arrest bail.

The applicants, who were on judicial remand in prison, had filed applications through Advocates Naeem Qureshi, Peer Asadullah Shah Rashidi and Asghar Narejo.

They stated that around 150 were nominated in the FIR, while around 8,000 to 10,000 were shown absconders by the investigating officers.

They added that no specific role was assigned to applicants, of whom none was put before the judicial magistrate.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the judge granted post-arrest bail to each applicant against a surety of Rs20,000.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2021