SHC grants pre-arrest bail to MQM’s Waseem Akhtar
The court ordered Akhtar to furnish two surety bonds worth Rs50,000 each in two cases lodged against him at Sohrab Goth and SITE Super Highway police stations, sources told media.
The MQM leader had accused military establishment, including Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency, the ISI, MI and government of trying to eliminate the MQM.
Earlier on Tuesday, the court had issued notices to the provincial prosecutor general and others on Akhtar’s plea seeking pre-arrest bail on sedition and terrorism charges.
Akhtar had moved the high court for bail soon after several party leaders were booked in various FIRs—two of them lodged in Karachi —for allegedly listening to their party chief’s speeches against national institutions.
In Karachi, two FIRs were lodged at the Sohrab Goth and SITE police under sections 123-A, 124-A of the Pakistan Penal Code, read with the Section 25 of the Telegraph Act and Sections 6/7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Akhtar had argued that he belonged to a large political party which has been striving for the national cause at the national level. The applicant said in early October he had come to know about the registration of cases under “false” allegations. He explained that in the complaints, bogus allegations of disloyalty and persuasion of public incitement have been levelled against him.
No comments