Mayor’s family and friends rally for his release

It was a first, even for Karachi, as the wife and children of the city’s imprisoned mayor, accompanied by friends of the family, converged at Do Talwar in Clifton on Sunday for a protest against Waseem Akhtar’s continuing detention. 

Speaking to newsmen, Naila Waseem, the mayor’s wife, was unequivocal on Akthar’s innocence, stating that all cases against him were ‘fake, baseless and unfounded’. 

However, acknowledging that personal opinions hardly matter in such affairs, she was as clear in asserting that, even if the cases were considered factual, all the charges against Akhtar are bailable offences. “Hence, it is our humble appeal to the prime minister, army chief and Sindh’s chief justice that, at least, all legalities be properly followed and he [Akhtar] be released on bail if the law allows,” said Naila.

Akhtar, who just over a month ago was elected as Karachi’s mayor from a jail cell, remains confined from July 19 till date on several terrorism-related charges, including abetting violent activities by providing medical treatment and shelter to criminals. He has also been accused of facilitating, or worse, orchestrating the events of May 12, 2007, one of the most violent days in the city’s history. 

Naila also raised some other pressing questions in her talk, particularly related to the manner in which the cases had been registered against her husband. “Has anyone even thought of looking into why 20 plus cases have been filed against one person in just a single district [Malir] of the city?” 

“I do not know about our authorities, but I can tell you that his [Akhtar’s] family still has no knowledge about why more than 20 cases were filed against him in District Malir.” 

Accompanied by eminent actors, Javed Sheikh and Behroze Subzwari, and Senator Nasreen Jalil – who clarified that she was there in a personal capacity – Naila went on to speak of the overwhelming support the family has received since Akhtar’s incarceration and subsequent election as mayor. 

“There are queues of people at our house every day, all of them coming to express their support for a mayor who has been elected to the post with this city’s popular mandate,” she said.

“It is these people who tell us how much Karachi’s civic operations are suffering due to the mayor’s incarceration. As Waseem himself said in his inaugural speech, there are multiple pressing civic issues such as garbage collection that need to be addressed immediately by the local governments. However, with our mayor behind bars, these matters have been put on the backburner and the city continues to suffer.” Naila concluded her talk with an appeal to the authorities concerned, particularly the judiciary, to ensure that due course of law was followed in Waseem Akhtar’s cases.

Yesterday’s demonstration by his family is this month’s latest effort on Akhtar’s part for judicial reprieve. On September 6, the imprisoned mayor had sent a letter to the chief justice of the Sindh High Court, requesting him to pass orders for expeditious disposal of his bail applications pending decisions at the high court and trial courts.

In his letter addressed to SHC CJ Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, Akhtar said he had been under trial in the prison since July 19. He said 20 first information reports were registered against him in just one day on July 15, and to date about 39 cases had been lodged against him, 35 of which had been lodged in Malir where he neither lived nor had any business.

Akhtar claimed that all the cases instituted against him were fake as the name of the applicant was not mentioned in the FIRs, nor was any role assigned, or recovery made or investigation conducted.

He mentioned that in almost all the 39 FIRs the same sections of law were applied, and since he was not a wealthy person he could not provide surety bonds in each case, which “are obviously politically motivated”.

The letter said that the applicant, who was elected mayor of Karachi and had taken the oath of office in the presence of all dignitaries of the city in a televised event, “is in prison for no fault or crime for the last 48 days”. 

This was followed by September 18’s media talk at a court hearing, where Akhtar requested the Sindh Rangers chief to forget the unpleasantries of the past so that they could move ahead for the sake of the city.

Speaking to journalists outside an anti-terrorism court, Akhtar had reiterated that all his offences were bailable and he should be granted bail in the interest of Karachi.

However, in an apparent reaction to this plea, the Sindh Rangers issued a statement the very next day, reasserting that they were not targeting any specific political party in their crackdown against criminals in Karachi.

A Rangers spokesperson had said a political party leader’s statement, wherein he had addressed the Rangers Sindh director general, was an attempt to create an impression that paramilitary force was targeting a specific political party or individual. However, he added, this was against the actual facts.

The spokesperson said Rangers were carrying out the operation in line with the law without any discrimination. He added that the crackdown would continue in the city until it reached its logical conclusion.