May 12 cases adjourned over Wasim Akhtar’s quarantine

An anti-terrorism court on Saturday adjourned the hearing of May 12 violence cases till September 4 after the attorney for the main accused, former Karachi mayor and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan leader Wasim Akhtar, had contracted coronavirus.

Advocate Mushtaque Ahmed submitted an application in the ATC-VII along with a Covid-19 positive report on behalf of Akhtar, requesting the judge to condone the presence of his client till he recovered from the virus.

The ex-mayor has been charged with abetting the violent crimes in the city on May 12, 2007 which killed over 50 people and wounded hundreds others. He then served as adviser to the chief minister for the Sindh home department.

According to the prosecution, Akhtar gave a free hand to MQM terrorists to cause riots in the city to prevent rallies of lawyers and opposition parties from reaching the Jinnah International Airport.

On that day, then deposed chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chauhdry had arrived at the Karachi airport to address a gathering at the Sindh High Court during a lawyers’ movement to restore him to his position.

However, Justice (now retired) Chaudhry remained stranded at the airport because riots had broken out across the city. Later, in the evening, he flew black to Islamabad after the law and order situation could not be contained.

Police have charged around two dozen known and several unknown suspects in these cases. All of them are present during the hearing, except Akhtar and Zakir Hussain.

Meanwhile, nine prosecution witnesses also appeared to depose their testimonies in seven cases, all of them registered at the Airport police station, but their statements could not be recorded.

The defence lawyers asked the court to adjourn the hearing until the main accused had recovered from the coronavirus. The judge approved the request and directed the witnesses and the accused to appear again on September 4.

Since 2007, the legal fraternity has been observing a black day on May 12 each year to commemorate their colleagues and other people who were killed by the miscreants.