Apology rejected: Court revokes bails of suspects absent at hearing

An anti-terrorism court expressed displeasure over the absence of the accused at the hearing of the case involving murder, attacks on media houses and anti-state slogans. Four of the suspects arrived after the hearing, but the court revoked their bails and sent them to jail. The suspects were arrested from the court premises.

The accused in the case, including Muttahida Qaumi Movement - Pakistan Senior Deputy Convener Amir Khan, Sattar, Qamar Mansoor, Izhar, Kanwar Naveed, Gulfaraz Khattak, Shahid Pasha and three women were, however, present at the hearing.

Advocate Irshad informed the court that he had informed all the suspects to appear at the court. The Rangers' counsel Mehboob Shaikh also maintained that the suspects Arshad Ali, Ashraf Noor, Jahangir and Hasan Alam, who were absent, were deliberately avoiding hearings so that the court could not indict them.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2018.