Four MQM men file bail pleas in incendiary speech case

Four activists of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), who have been accused of their involvement in the August 22, 2016 provocative speech and media houses attack cases, filed on Monday bail applications as an anti-terrorism court (ATC) had cancelled their earlier bail due to their absence from a hearing.

The ATC issued notice to a special public prosecutor to appear before the court on October 30 and argue on the bail applications moved by Syed Arshad Ali, Hassan Alam, Muhammad Jahangir and Sharf Alam. The four men are being tried along with MQM leaders Dr Farooq Sattar, Amir Khan, Kanwer Naveed Jamil, Qamar Mansoor, Shahid Pasha and others.

Previously, when the court took up two cases pertaining to charges of entertaining the anti-state speech of MQM founder Altaf Hussain, and ransacking some media houses on August 22, 2016, the four men, who had earlier been granted bail, were found absent.

The court wanted to indict the suspects on the hearing, however, upon finding that they were not present, it postponed the indictment till November 3 and passed orders to cancel their bail. Arrest warrants were also issued for the suspects so that they could be produced on November 3 and indicted along with other suspects including Dr Farooq Sattar, Amir Khan, Qamar Mansoor, Shahid Pasha and others.

In some other cases related to the provocative speech incident that were registered on different dates at various police stations, Dr Sattar, Amir and Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar have already been indicted. However, have they denied the charges and the court has summoned prosecution witnesses to record their statements.

The court has already declared Altaf Hussain, Haider Abbas Rizvi, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, and Salman Mujahid as proclaimed offenders. The MQM founder had raised anti-country slogans during his speech on August 22, 2016.