KARACHI, Nov 15: The Sindh High Court on Tuesday put the federal and provincial law officers and the Sindh prosecutor general on notice in a petition seeking registration of a case against Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain and other top party men for killing two workers of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement (Haqiqi) and attempting to kill its chairman, Afaq Ahmed.

The interned chief of MQM-H, Mr Ahmed, who pleaded his case himself, submitted in his petition that he escaped narrowly in an attack that killed his two workers in Landhi.

He said that the report of a joint interrogation team that grilled Ajmal Pahari, a suspected terrorist, showed that a plot was hatched to kill him by the rival party’s leadership in London.

He claimed that the murder conspiracy was also reported in a section of the press.

A division bench comprising Justices Gulzar Ahmed and Mohammed Ali Mazhar issued notices to the home secretary, the provincial police chief and others and put off the hearing to Nov 29.

The court also directed the jail authorities to produce Afaq Ahmed in court on the next date of hearing.

Earlier, a single bench headed by Justice Maqbool Baqar directed the police not to arrest the MQM-H chairman in a case registered against him for kidnapping and torturing an employee of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board.

Advocate Muhammed Jiwani appeared on behalf of the complainant, Khalid Hussain, and opposed Mr Ahmed’s bail application.

He said that the complainant was a government servant and he was kidnapped and tortured.

He sought time from court for making arguments on the bail plea, but the court declined his request and asked him toconclude his argument before the court rose for the day.

Prosecutor General Shahadat Awan also opposed Mr Ahmed’s bail application and submitted that it was not maintainable.

He stated that the applicant had earlier moved his bail application in the trial court, which had already let him off by the prosecution.

Justice Baqar observed that since the applicant had been let off by the prosecution, there was no question of his arrest now.

The bench directed the police not to arrest Mr Ahmed, observing that even the medico-legal report revealed that the offence of inflicting injuries upon the complainant involved maximum punishment for one year.

Mr Ahmed, who was brought to the SHC amid extraordinary security, stated that he had been behind bars since April 4, 2004 and implicated in nine cases. He said he was arrested in cases one after another. Later, the MQM-H chief was produced before another SHC bench comprising Justice Shahid Anwar Bajwah for the hearing of his bail application in a ransom case being tried by an anti-terrorism court.

The prosecutor general argued that the bail application of an accused being tried under the anti-terrorism law could not be heard by a single bench.

The bench directed the prosecutor general to approach the chief justice’s office for getting the matter fixed before a division bench if he had objection to the jurisdiction of the single bench.

The court put off the hearing till Nov 18 and ordered the production of Mr Ahmed in court on the next date.