ATC puts off illegal arms case hearing against 26 MQM workers over no-show of IO

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Saturday put off the hearing of illegal arms cases against 26 Muttahida Qaumi Movement activists as the investigation officer (IO) did not appear to submit case properties.

The court expressed displeasure over the investigation officer’s non-appearance. The investigation officer was ordered to appear before the court along with the case properties on November 24.

However, the suspects named in the cases, including Ubaid alias Ubaid K2, Amir alias Amir Sarphta, Faisal alias Faisal Mota and Amir Teli, were produced before the court. The accused were arrested on March 11, 2015, when Rangers’ personnel  had raided the MQM headquarters, Nine Zero, and its adjoining areas.

The court has accepted an amended charge sheet after amalgamation of around 52 cases on the request of Advocate Muhammad Jeewani who represented the activists. He had argued that almost all the cases had a similar nature and it was fair to treat them as a single major case.

The lawyer also requested the court to accept an amended charge sheet in these cases against Ubaid K2, Amir Sarphta, Faisal Motta, Shabbir Ahmed alias Farhan Mullah and other workers who are being tried in this major case.  

Fraud cases 

A court heard two fraud cases against UK-based businessman Srafraz Merchant, who is the complainant in a money laundering case against MQM founder Altaf Hussain and other party
leaders.

However, the court adjourned the hearing until December 2 as the judicial proceedings were suspended due to the death of a senior lawyer, Abdul Rauf. In the fraud cases, complainant Zafar Faridi alleged that Merchant had extorted around Rs2.5 million from him while threatening him to file a fake case against him.

The complainant further alleged that Merchant had also snatched his vehicle on March 12, 2014. He said a case was lodged against Merchant but the police had showed him as absconder in the charge sheet.

He said the fraud case against Merchant had already been lodged with Darakhshan police under Sections 420 and 506 of the Pakistan Penal Code that deal with matters of cheating and forgery.