Saleem Shahzad granted permission to travel abroad

Former MQM leader to travel to the UK for medical treatment

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court allowed on Wednesday former Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Saleem Shahzad to travel abroad to seek medical treatment.

Shahzad, a former senior leader of the MQM, had moved an application before the ATC-II judge pleading that he was a cancer patient and wanted to be treated in the United Kingdom.



The ATC-II judge, after hearing arguments and examining the plaintiff's medical history, allowed him to leave the country for one month. He was, however, asked to submit a surety bond of Rs2 million to the court.

The former MQM leader faces three cases against him. One of them, which the ATC is hearing, pertains to facilitating suspected terrorists seeking shelter at a private hospital. The two others date back to 1992 and pertain to kidnapping and rioting.

In the terrorism facilitation case, the prosecution maintains that Shahzad, like the other accused implicated in the case, asked former petroleum minister Dr Asim Hussain to provide medical assistance to suspected terrorists belonging to the MQM at his Ziauddin Hospital while screening them off from law enforcers.

Dr Asim and other politicians, such as MQM's Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar, MPA Rauf Siddiqui, Pak Sarzameen Party's Anis Kaimkhani, Pakistan Peoples Party's Qadir Patel and Pasban-e-Pakistan's Usman Moazzam, have also been nominated in the case.



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 the suspects have, however, obtained bail from the court.

Shahzad was arrested in February from Jinnah International Airport after her returned to the country, ending his two-decade-long self-imposed exile. His return was deemed to have some political motives.