The administrative judge of anti-terrorism courts on Friday transferred the bail application of Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi (MQM-H) chairman Afaq Ahmed in two cases to an ATC inside the central prison for hearing.
Ahmed was arrested from his DHA residence on Tuesday night for allegedly instigating people to torch heavy vehicles in the city. He was booked in the two cases lodged at the Landhi and Awami Colony police stations.
As the MQM-H chief's bail application came up for hearing before the ATC-I judge, who is also the administrative judge of the ATCs, he ordered its transfer to the ATC-VI in the judicial complex inside the central jail for hearing.
The bail plea will likely be taken up on February 17, according to defence counsel Javed Ahmed Chattari. On Wednesday, the judge had turned down the police's request for physical remand of Ahmed for interrogation and instead sent him to prison on judicial remand.
In the application filed through his lawyer, the MQM-H chief contended that there was no direct evidence to connect him with the commissioning of the alleged offence. He said if any video of his purported hate speech was available on social media it required to be sent for a forensic examination to verify its authenticity. "The story mentioned in the FIR is concocted one and baseless," he said, pleading with the court to grant him bail.
The FIRs have been lodged under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 435 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to cause damage to amount of one hundred rupee), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 365 (kidnapping), and 337 A-i (Shajjah) read with Section 7 (acts of terrorism) of Anti-Terrorism Act.
Chinese convoy attack
Separately, the judge transferred the bail application of a female suspect detained in a case pertaining to last year's suicide bombing near the Karachi airport that killed two Chinese nationals and a Pakistani citizen.
Gul Nisa, alleged facilitator of the attack, had moved an application before the ATC-I judge seeking her release on bail. The judge ordered transfer of the bail plea to another ATC inside the central prison for disposal as per the law.
Defence lawyer Shaukat Hayat contended that Gul Nisa, mother of an infant, had been in jail for four months. He lamented that the investigation officer had not submitted a charge sheet of the case yet and sought more time for the purpose at every hearing. The IO once again sought one week's time to submit the challan.