KARACHI, May 9: The Sindh High Court on Monday suspended the life term awarded to Afaq Ahmed and Aamir Khan, the chiefs of their own factions of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement, better known as MQM-Haqiqi, in a murder case and granted them bail.

The two leaders were sentenced to life imprisonment by a sessions court for killing Mohammad Farooq, an activist of the rival Muttahida Quami Movement, in June 1992.

According to the prosecution, complainant Ismail Qureshi alleged that MQM activists Khalid Jamil, Salman, Farooq and others were kidnapped by Haqiqi activists on June 19, 1992 in the Landhi area and later on the directives of Afaq Ahmed and Aamir Khan the absconding co-accused killed Farooq.

The appellants’ counsel, M. Ilyas Khan and Mohammad Farooq, contended that the appeals of their clients had been pending since April 2010, while they had been incarcerated since April 2004; therefore, they had already served a major portion of their sentence.

They argued that the prosecution was trying to prolong the matter for an indefinite period, taking adjournments for one reason or the other.

The counsel stated that the appeal was not being heard mainly due to the absence of the complainant and prosecutors. They prayed to the court to suspend the appellants’ sentence as they had already served the major portion of their sentence.

Additional Prosecutor General Zafar Ahmed Khan opposed the application for suspension of the sentence.

Justice Ghulam Sarwar Korai of the SHC observed that the appellants had been behind bars since April 3, 2004 and served a major portion of their conviction.

The court observed that mostly hearings in the appeal were adjourned on part of the prosecution side and granted applications regarding suspension of the sentence with a surety of Rs300,000 each.