Mayor apologises to teenager his son assaulted

Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar apologised on Saturday to Hasnain Haider Abbasi, the teenager his son assaulted on New Year’s Eve, on behalf of his son.

Police had registered a case on Friday against the mayor’s son for allegedly carrying out aerial firing and thrashing a citizen on the New Year’s Eve. The FIR (No 2/20) was registered at the Darakhshan Police Station against Taimur Akhtar, the son of Akhtar, on the complaint of 19-year-old student Hasnain Haider Abbas, who accused Taimur of thrashing him.

On Saturday, the mayor went to Abbasi’s home in Clifton, accepted his son’s mistake and apologised to the victim. He said the incident must never have taken place and that they all were brothers.

Abbasi and his father Mahboob said that in accordance with the traditions of Sindh, the mayor came to their home for an apology and that was why they were ready to accept it. Abbasi assured the mayor that he would take back the FIR against his son.

Pakistan Muslim League-Functional’s Nusrat Seher Abbasi, who is also a member of the provincial assembly, senior politician Syed Ghulam Shah and former bureaucrat Dr Shafqat Abbasi also accompanied the mayor to Abbasi’s home.

According to Abbasi, on the New Year’s Eve, he along with his friends was waiting for other friends at a petrol pump in Phase-VIII of Defence Housing Authority (DHA) when two Vigo vehicles arrived there at around 10pm on December 31. Around eight to 10 persons, including security guards, were travelling in the vehicles and they resorted to aerial firing, he said, adding that when he inquired about the gunfire it turned into a heated debate.

After Abbasi and his friends left the place, they were chased by the two Vigo vehicles. After stopping them, the guards disembarked from their vehicles along with the mayor’s son, Taimur, and told Abbasi that he was the son of the Karachi mayor. Abbasi was then allegedly beaten up by Taimur’s guards.

The complainant stated in the FIR that the mayor’s son had manhandled him with his gunmen in the Darakhshan police station’s remits late on Tuesday night. The complainant approached the police for the registration of a case against Taimur.

According to the police, they had registered the case under multiple sections of the Pakistan Penal Code, including those pertaining to a scuffle and threats.

The FIR reads that Taimur and his gunman had beaten up the complainant and also attempted to push him into their vehicle while making death threats. The suspects also allegedly threatened the friends of the complainant when they tried to resist them.

The police explained that the mayor's son along with eight to 10 others, including his guards, were booked for beating up Abbasi on the night of December 31. Mahboob said that the mayor telephoned him after the FIR was lodged and a protest was held against the mayor outside the Karachi Press Club.