Crucial timing: MQM-H man asks for bail as he was at court when victim was ‘attacked’

Man accusing Afaq Ahmed of ordering torture was shot a day after one hearing.

KARACHI: If I was at court till 5pm how could I have shot a man in Landhi at 3:45pm? This was the argument made by Aleem Ahmed Khan, a key member of Afaq Ahmed’s Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM-H), in court on Monday.

He is accused of attacking a water board staffer named Khalid Hussain, who has been separately embroiled in a case against the MQM-H party’s chief.

Hussain was shot in the thigh in Landhi on November 16, just a day after one of Afaq’s hearings. But Aleem Ahmed Khan argued that he could not have possibly done it as he was at court till 5pm. He, Afaq Ahmed and Afaq’s attorney Syed Iqbal Kazmi were all waiting for an order to be passed for Afaq’s own bail hearing.

“The entire staff of the court is witness to my presence,” Aleem submitted before the bench through Iqbal Kazmi, adding that he was being falsely implicated.

Khalid Hussain was shot in the thigh but the injury appears to be self-inflicted and the medico legal report, the FIR and the subsequent decision to name Aleem is doubtful, the request for bail said. Aleem also requested the court to form a medical board of experts who would establish whether the injury was self inflicted or caused by other people. He also questioned the role the police played by registering the FIR to falsely implicate him.

The bench - Justice Maqbool Baqar and Justice Imam Bux Baloch - adjourned the plea for bail and ordered that in the circumstances, bail was not required. The judges went on to pass an order that prevents the police from arresting Aleem till Afaq Ahmed’s next hearing on December 21. The bench also summoned the DIG East, Landhi SHO and investigating officer.

The same judges also ordered notices to be issued requiring the attendance of government law officers in a petition filed in 2010 by MQM-H chief Afaq Ahmed who wants to know all the details of cases against him. The bench said that the  matter was being prolonged as Afaq’s lawyers were not attending hearings. His attorney or legal representative (but not his lawyer), Syed Iqbal Kazmi, said that the lawyers were too scared to appear. He added, however, that Afaq would be appearing himself or would be represented by him (Kazmi) to proceed with the matter. After this undertaking, the bench summoned the deputy attorney general, Advocate General of Sindh and other people named in the case for December 21.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2011.