‘Why is my husband being singled out?’

Jailed mayor's wife, Naila Waseem, calls for accountability of all officials in power on May 12, 2007

The wife of the jailed mayor of Karachi demanded on Wednesday that the then president, Sindh governor, chief minister, chief secretary, IGP, and heads of other law-enforcement agencies should be investigated and interrogated for the May 12, 2007 violence in Karachi instead of just singling out her husband, who was facing baseless and politically motivated cases.

Naila Waseem, wife of Karachi mayor and Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Waseem Akhtar, speaking at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club said 100 days had passed since her husband was arrested by police on July 19 and her husband was being subjected to political victimization.

“Around nine and a half years have passed since the May 12 violence. Why has Waseem been singled out and implicated in this case,” she questioned.

“He [Waseem] has been nominated in seven FIRs in connection with the May 12 violence. All of them are blind FIRs lodged against unidentified people. If this case is so important for them, then it should be opened and all people concerned should be brought under scope of investigation and interrogation,” she added.

The imprisoned mayor’s wife said that she was compelled to present and plead her case before the public’s “jury” as she had become dejected over the constant denial of justice.

“My husband is being unduly dragged to courts while repeatedly deny bail him despite proven baseless and vindictive nature of cases against him.”

She said her husband was the elected mayor of Karachi and wanted to be released so he could serve his city.

“Karachi is facing a leadership crisis given its seriously defective systems of drainage and water supply. The entire infrastructure of the city government is also in shambles,” she added.

“He is being kept in prison without any valid cause. He has pleaded several times that he should be granted bail so that he could serve the public and work for his city. The city needs him.”

Naila said her husband had told the court several times that the cases in which he had been nominated did not pertain to May 12, 2007 violence collectively; instead were regarding vehicles on fire and should be probed on a case to case basis. “Waseem has said he should be granted bail and he would be available for any kind of investigation into these cases that could linger on for years.

The mayor’s wife said her husband had been denied bail even though the investigation so far had failed to link Akhtar to the May 12 violence.

She added that Akhtar had been granted bail in three cases pertaining to May 12  vioelcne by an anti-terrorism court while another court was denying bail to him in four other cases even though they were based on a similar set of events and allegations pertaining to a specific day.

She said the investigation officer of the cases was delaying the submission of the final charge sheet and on every hearing, pleaded the court to give him a fresh date to submit it.

She said under the law, the cases in which her husband had been implicated should be not be pursued anymore as over nine years had passed since the May 12  violence and the investigation into the case had failed to make any headway as the final-charge sheet was yet to be submitted by the investigation officer.

She also mentioned to the judgement of the suo-moto proceedings of the Sindh High Court on the May 12 violence. The then SHC chief justice had not fixed the responsibility for the events of the day on anyone.

Dr Asim case

Naila said her husband had also been implicated in the case pertaining to the imprisoned former federal minister Dr Asim Hussain.

She said the evidence produced in the case against her husband showed that Akhtar had referred a person named Bilal to the private hospital of Dr Asim for treatment but actually her husband did not know that person at all.

“The investigation showed no person named Bilal lived at the address shown in hospital’s record,” she said.

“It was also found that Bilal, who was mentioned in the case, had remained at the hospital for treatment for one day and paid Rs 15,000 for his treatment. No criminal case was found lodged against Bilal.”

She said that officer who had submitted the final charge sheet in the case had written in his challan that the case could not be further pursued over lack of evidence.

“The hospital bills presented as evidence in the case were found to be tampered with.

But despite all the tampering and lack of evidence, the case is being pursued without any valid cause,” she maintained.

Naila said the joint investigation team formed in the case of Dr Asim in its report had mentioned the names of certain high-profile political people who had allegedly referred criminals and terrorists to the hospital for treatment.

She said it was sheer injustice that certain influential authorities had used their prerogative to single out and implicate her husband in the case pertaining to Dr Asim while leaving aside the other high-profile people also named in the case.

MQM-Pakistan

Naila reiterated the stance of her husband that the jailed mayor was affiliated with the MQM-Pakistan headed by Dr Farooq Sattar but much more than this political affiliation, he belonged to the people of the city and should be set free to serve them.