KARACHI: An antiterrorism Court (ATC) on Monday acquitted Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader and former Karachi mayor Wasim Akhtar and two others in of the one of the seven cases pertaining to the May 12, 2007 violence.

On 12 May, 2007, around 50 people were killed and over 100 wounded in attacks on rallies organised by members of political parties and legal fraternity who had tried to receive then deposed chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry at Karachi airport ahead of a lawyers’ gathering. Justice Chaudhry was forced to fly back to Islamabad after having been restricted to the airport for nine hours.

The judge of the ATC-VII, who conducted the trial inside the judicial complex on the premises of Karachi central prison, acquitted Mr Akhtar, Umair Siddiqui and Ejaz Shah Qadri for lack of evidence against them.

The court ruled that the prosecution failed to prove charges against the accused persons beyond a reasonable doubt.

ATC exonerates them of all charges for lack of evidence; six identical cases also pending since 2007

MQM founder Altaf Hussain and several others have already been declared absconders in the case. The court ruled that the case file remained dormant until their arrest.

The three accused appeared in court on bail and the court cancelled their surety bonds after pronouncing the verdict.

According to the case of prosecution, being the home adviser Mr Akhtar had on May 10, 2007 chaired a meeting at the party’s Nine Zero headquarters, which was attended by party workers and sector in-charges. The meeting aimed at destabilising the city and forcibly prevent the former CJP from reaching Karachi and also ensure that lawyers do not reach the airport to welcome him, it added.

Mr Akhtar, who was formally arrested in 2016 in the present case, was charged with the offences of abetment, concealing the design to commit an offence and facilitating the May 12 violence after he allegedly confessed before the police to having chaired the alleged meeting.

During the trial, defence counsel Mushtaq Ahmed argued that the prosecution had failed to produce any substantial evidence or witnesses to support the allegation that Mr Akhtar, who was the chief minister’s adviser on home affairs in 2007, had held a meeting at that time to prevent former CJP from reaching Karachi.

He submitted that no evidence was available on record to suggest that his client was involved in the abetment or facilitation of the May 12 riots.

The counsel added that the co-accused, Umair and Ejaz, were implicated in the case based on Mr Akhtar’s alleged confession.

A total of seven identical cases were registered at the Airport and other police station 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 (punishment for abetment if the act abetted is committed in consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code, read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2025