ATC to indict accused in Abidi murder case on next hearing

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) provided copies on Friday to the accused in former MQM MNA Ali Raza Abidi’s murder case and issued perpetual arrest warrants for the accused who are on the run.

Accused Farooq, Ghazali, Abu Bakr and Abdul Haseeb appeared before the court. The ATC provided copies of the case to the accused. The accused will be indicted at the next hearing.

The court has declared four accused including Hasnain, Bilal, Ghulam Mustafa alias Kali Charan, and Faizan absconders. The court adjourned the hearing till September 2 while issuing perpetual arrest warrants for the accused who are on the run.

Hate speech cases

Another ATC issued show-cause notice to Malir Investigation SSP over the absence of witness in the hearing of the hate speech case against Muttahida Quami Movement-London founder.

The court was hearing the 21 cases of hate speech and issued non-bailable arrest warrants for witness, Javed Hussain, over his absence at the hearing.

Dr Farooq Sattar, Rauf Siddiqui, Rehan Hashmi, Khwaja Izhar-ul-Hassan, Qamar Mansoor and other accused appeared before the court.

The IO said that the witness was busy with a personal matter in Islamabad. “The witness says he will appear before the court if he is given security,” said the IO.

The court directed the counsels, the accused and the witness to ensure their presence on September 14.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 24^th, 2019.