In court: Non-bailable warrants issued for MQM workers in Amir Khan case

Amir Khan has been accused or ‘harbouring criminals and instigating terrorism’

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) issued on Friday non-bailable arrest warrants against four workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in connection with a case against party leader Amir Khan.

Khan, a top MQM leader, has been accused of 'harbouring criminals and instigating terrorism' by the Rangers, who took him into custody along with 100 other party workers in the March 11 raid last year.

The warrants were issued for Raees Mama, said to be a commander of a militant wing of the party, Minhaj Qazi, Imran Ijaz Niazi and Naeem alias Mullah.

During the hearing, the ATC-IV judge asked the investigating officer (IO) about developments in the case and the whereabouts of the absconding suspects. The IO replied that he raided the available addresses of the suspects a number of times but could not find them. He also told the court that the suspects' names were put on Exit Control List to restrict their movement out of the country.

The judge expressed, however, displeasure over the slow investigations and asked the IO to submit a complete report about the absconding suspects at the next hearing on May 7.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 9^th,  2016.