Police have registered two cases against another senior leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Waseem Akhtar.
The cases against Akhtar, who has also served as an adviser to the Sindh chief minister for home department during the era of General (retd) Pervez Musharraf, were registered late on Friday evening at Sohrab Goth and Site Super Highway police stations.
The complainants, both of whom were ordinary citizens, accused Akhtar of inciting the public to violence and harming the national interests of the country in his recent remarks made on television channels.
The first case was registered at Site Super Highway Industrial Area police station against the MQM leader. The clauses of the Anti-Terrorism Act and the Telegraph Act were placed by the police. In his statement, the complainant said that he heard on different news channels Akhtar's remarks against the nation. Being a Pakistani, he could not tolerate such things and decided to lodge a case against Akhtar, he stated.
Similarly, the second case lodged at Sohrab Goth police station also claimed that Akhtar incited the public to violence and harmed the national interests of the country. The police included the same sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act and the Telegraph Act, allegedly for criticising the country's intelligence agencies. So far, no arrest has been made. The cases have been transferred to the investigation wings of the police stations. Though hundreds of cases of treason and criticism of the country's intelligence agencies were registered against MQM chief Altaf Hussain a few months ago, the two cases against Akhtar are the second such case to have been lodged against a party leader.
A day earlier, a case of treason was registered at Gulbahar police station against senior MQM leader Muhammad Anwar, who is currently residing in London. Anwar was already facing a case on money laundering in London and was released on bail after he detained at Central London Police Station for 10 hours in April this year.
A case was registered on the complaint of a citizen, Imran Bikik. The complainant is claimed to be a cousin of Shahid Bikik, a deceased activist of the banned Peoples Amn Committee. The complainant, Bikik, told The Express Tribune that he had registered the FIR as a citizen of Pakistan. He was of the belief that the MQM leader was an agent of the Indian spy agency and was hatching conspiracies against the country. "Being a Pakistani, I cannot tolerate the actions of such people anymore," said Bikik.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 4th, 2015.
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