MPO Rules: Afaq’s challenge to detention hearing on Friday

Detent­ion orders issued on ground­s that MQM-Haqiqi worker­s and a banned religi­ous outfit had joined hands.

KARACHI:

The hearing of an application filed by Afaq Ahmed, the chairman of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM-Haqiqi), questioning an order to detain him for 30 days under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) rules, was adjourned till Friday by the Sindh High Court on Wednesday.

The adjournment came as the written reply and comments from the chief secretary were not filed and the government asked for more time to file them on the grounds that the delay was caused by the chief secretary’s extraordinary engagements for Muharram arrangements.

The detention order was passed on November 29 after Afaq Ahmed did all the paperwork to post bail in the last case against him on the alleged kidnapping and torture of the worker of a rival political party.

The division bench of the SHC also directed the director-general of the Rangers and the inspector-general of police to provide him protection. Ahmed has been behind bars since April 2004.

The detention orders were issued on grounds that MQM-Haqiqi workers and a banned religious outfit had joined hands, which could result in an outbreak of violence in Muharram.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 8^th, 2011.