ATC grants bail to Saleem Shahzad

His British passport lies with court in order to restrict his movement outside of country

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) granted on Saturday bail to former Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Saleem Shahzad in a terrorism facilitation case against a surety of Rs0.5 million.

The ATC-II kept Shahzad's British passport with it to restrict his movement out of the country during the trial. He will have to seek the court's nod beforehand if he wants to travel.

Shahzad remained associated with the MQM since its inception as a student organisation in 1978 until he was removed from the Coordination Committee in London in 2013. He was later expelled from the party.



He was arrested earlier in February at the Jinnah International Airport upon his return to the country, which ended his two-decade-long self-imposed exile.

According to the prosecution, Shahzad, when with the MQM, had facilitated suspected terrorists injured in clashes with law enforcers at Ziauddin Hospitals in Clifton and North Nazimabad.

Other politicians – Wasim Akhtar and Rauf Siddiqui of MQM, Pakistan Peoples Party's Qadir Patel, Pak Sarzameen Party's Anis Kaimkhani, and Pasban-e-Pakistan's Usman Moazzam – are also implicated in the case.

The group of hospitals was run by former petroleum minister Dr Asim Hussain and he has been held as the primary suspect on the supposed ground that he knew what went around.

The case was registered under the Anti-Terrorism Act in November, 2015, at the North Nazimabad police station on the complaint of the Rangers. All suspects have obtained bail from courts.

Meanwhile, Shahzad’s release from jail is subject to completion of legal formalities.