At last: ATC grants bail to Wasim Akhtar, Qadir Patel

Both submit surety bonds of Rs500,000 to ensure release

KARACHI: Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar and Pakistan Peoples Party leader Qadir Patel were released from prison on Wednesday after an anti-terrorism court (ATC) granted them bail in a terrorism facilitation case.

The release was made possible after they submitted a surety bond of Rs500,000 with the ATC-II as directed and obtained their release orders from the court.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Akhtar, his party's MPA, Rauf Siddiqui, Pak Sarzameen Party leader Anis Kaimkhani and Pakistan Peoples Party's Patel were sent to prison on July 19 after the same court rejected their interim bail.

They, along with MQM's Saleem Shahzad, Pasban Pakistan's Usman Moazzam and former petroleum minister Dr Asim Hussain, have been accused of facilitating suspected terrorists for their medical treatment at Ziauddin Hospitals with screening from law enforcers.

The trust-owned Ziauddin Hospitals, having facilities in North Nazimabad and Clifton, are run by Dr Asim. The former minister was the first one to be arrested in the case, which materialised over his reported confessions before a joint investigation team that comprised Rangers, police and other security agencies' officials.

Dr Asim, Siddiqui, Kaimkhani and Moazzam obtained bail in this case earlier this month as a Sindh High Court division bench - fifth in a row to hear the same application - approved their plea. Shahzad remains absconding throughout and has not appeared before the court as yet.

The arguments on the bail pleas of the mayor and Patel were heard on the previous hearing. The defence lawyers had contended that their clients should be granted bail keeping in view that the other accused had been granted bail by a higher court in the same case. The ATC judge, who pronounced the order after reserving it for more than a week, observed that the same surety as submitted by the other accused must be furnished before the court for securing release.

Mayor's 39 cases

Of these suspects, Akhtar is the only one who faced the most cases and had to go a long course to secure release finally. There are 39 cases against him, more than two dozens of which pertain to 'hateful and incendiary' speeches by his party's founder, Altaf Hussain. A dozen of these cases surfaced after he went behind bars.

The elected mayor was implicated in seven cases of attempting to murder, rioting and arson attacks pertaining to the May 12, 2007, violent incidents shortly after his arrest in Dr Asim's terrorism facilitation case. Others followed in later.

Over the course of the cases' saga, he maintained that the charges being brought up were part of a conspiracy against him and this, according to him, was done to stop him from holding the office of the mayor. He had won the mayoral election by contesting the polls from jail.

As of now, he is on bail in all the cases against him. The largest surety he submitted throughout is in this case. According to an estimate, more than Rs1.5 million is with the courts as guarantees from his end.

Siddiqui allowed to fly abroad 

The ATC-II also allowed provincial lawmaker Rauf Siddiqui to go abroad for 15 days after he submitted that he wanted to perform Umrah in Saudi Arabia. He was directed to ensure his comeback within the stipulated time and inform the court in person.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17^th, 2016.