More NBWs out for MQM-P leaders in CM House protest case

A court once again issued non-bailable arrest warrants for eight leaders of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, including party chief Dr Farooq Sattar, over their failure to attend proceedings of the case related to a protest staged outside the Chief Minister House on June 5 last year.

The judge expressed his displeasure over the non-apprehension of the absconding accused. He directed the investigation officer (IO) to arrest the accused, including Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Syed Aminul Haque and Aslam Afridi, and produce them in court on August 17.

While Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar and Sindh Assembly Opposition Leader Khawaja Izharul Hassan have been granted exemption from the court appearance, Sathi Ishaq, who has also been granted bail by court, was at attendance.

The same court had earlier declared around 10 leaders MQM-P leaders, including Dr Farooq Sattar and Dr Maqbool Siddiqui, as proclaimed offenders.

The judge had expressed displeasure and snubbed the IO for having failed to arrest the accused and produce them before the court. The court had noted that the absconding accused had failed to appear before the court despite of issuance of non-bailable arrest warrants for them.

The court had directed the IO to initiate legal proceedings against the absconding accused.  The MQM-P leaders, who led a protest to the CM House on June 5 last year after several areas of the city were hit by a massive water shortage, are accused of disrupting law and order and using loudspeakers during the protest demonstration to provoke people against the government in front of the provincial chief minister’s house.

All roads leading to the CM House were blocked with containers and barricades during the protest. The protestors, who had held the Sindh government responsible for the city’s water crisis, are alos accused of scaling containers and pushing barricades during the demonstration.

The then government had later lodged a case against the protesting leaders with the Civil Lines police station. Former chief minister Qaim Ali Shah had claimed that his government had allocated more than Rs6b for the city’s K-IV water project in order to resolve the water shortage permanently.