ATC indicts 25 MQM workers in 50 cases

Workers were arrested during the March 11, 2015 raid at Nine Zero

KARACHI: The trial of 25 Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) workers in 50 cases of possessing illicit weapons and explosives began after an anti-terrorism court indicted them on Wednesday, almost a year after their arrest.

The workers were arrested during the pre-dawn March 11, 2015, raid by the Rangers at the MQM headquarters, Nine Zero. According to the prosecution, a number of unlicenced weapons and explosives were seized from their possession.



The ATC-VI judge, Abdul Naeem Memon, framed charges on Faisal Mehmood alias Mota, Shabbir Ahmed alias Farhan Mullah, Ubaid Khursheed alias K2, Nasir Shah, Amir Ali alias Sir Phatta, Amir alias Totla, Kazim, Imtiaz, Taufiq, Rizwan, Abdul Qadir alias Hangoro, Nadeem Ahmed, Javed, Sajid Ali, Shakeel, Faizan alias Usama, Zubair, Wajihur Rehman, Syed Mumtaz, Noman, Asif, Haseeb, Mehmood Hassan, Mehmood Abid and Faizan.

Faisal Mehmood was convicted of the murder of journalist Wali Babar and was awarded a death penalty in absentia in March, 2014.

The judge read out the charges to the suspects and asked them whether they accepted the allegations against them, to which all the suspects denied the charges and opted to contest their cases. Afterwards, the judge issued directions to the investigating officer to bring on record evidence and produce witnesses against the suspects at the next hearing.



The cases against the suspects are being heard inside the jail, as the provincial home department had notified the court that there was a security risk in bringing the suspects for the hearings. The cases are registered at the Azizabad police station under Section 23(1)(a) of the Sindh Arms Act and Section 4 and 5 of the Explosives Substances Act, read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2016.