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Friday March 29, 2024

MQM activists granted bail

By APP
July 22, 2017

The SHC granted on Friday bail to Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) activists in cases pertaining to terrorism and sedition charges and attack on media houses.

MQM activists Shareef, Irfan Alam and 17 others had approached the SHC for obtaining bail in connection of cases registered against members of the MQM coordination committee with different police stations, following MQM founder leader Altaf Hussain’s anit-state speech on Augusts 22 last year outside the Karachi Press Club.

Police had booked MQM leaders, office-bearers and several activists for attending a gathering of the MQM coordination committee meeting in which the party founder delivered speech against armed forces, state institutions and the country on August 22, 2016. The speech was followed by party activists attacking media houses in the Saddar area.

Cases were lodged against Altaf Hussain and MQM leaders under charges of conspiracy, offence against state and terrorism. Complainants submitted in the FIR that they came to know that the MQM founder made a speech against the country’s armed forces and sovereignty of the country that hurt their feeling.

The counsel for MQM workers submitted that they were falsely implicated in the case while other co-accused had been granted bail is same cases.

After hearing the arguments, the court granted bail to the applicants against surety bonds of Rs100,000 each.

Officials told to remove encroachments, stop allotments in Gutter Baghicha

The Sindh government has ordered the cancellation of illegal allotments and removal of encroachments in the Gutter Baghicha area and warned all officials against approving any new allotments at the site.

The municipal commissioner, Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and the deputy commissioner for District West – through a letter from the deputy secretary of the Sindh Local Government and Housing Town Planning Department – have been directed to take action against illegal and unauthorised possession of land in the Gutter Baghicha area.

“The illegal allotments already made in violation of the rules and procedure may be cancelled and, if any allotment has been made legally, then justification may be provided,” the officials were advised in the letter.

The KMC or any other authority, as per the letter, shall not approve any new allotments in Gutter Baghicha and that proper action as per law should be taken if land grabbers illegally occupy any plot in the locality.

The directives were appreciated by an organisation that had lodged complaints with the local government department over the issue of illegal allotments in the Gutter Baghicha area.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Sindh Shahri Federation's General Secretary Tahir Sawati said they had lodged complaints with concrete proofs to the local government secretary and other authorities concerned and had demanded action against land grabbers.