SHC extends Waseem Akhtar’s protective bail

Karachi

The Sindh High Court (SHC) extended on Monday protective bail of Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Waseem Akhtar in treason cases till February 10.

Akhtar, who has been nominated for the Karachi mayor’s slot by his party, was booked by police on treason and terrorism charges on a complaint of two citizens after he appeared in an interview on a private television channel. 

The complainants accused him of inciting the public to violence and harming the national interests in his remarks he made recently on the television channel.

Akhtar’s counsel, Khawaja Naveed Ahmed, submitted that sedition cases were registered against his client on baseless allegations and the television interview was misreported as he did not speak against the armed forces. 

The court extended the interim protective bail of the applicant till February 10 on the request of his counsel, who said his client was out of the country.

TDAP case

The Sindh High Court issued notices to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and others on a bail application of a former National Bank of Pakistan employee in a corruption scam in the Trade and Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP).

The trial court had earlier rejected the bail application of Najamul Haq and sent him to prison. Being aggrieved by the order, he filed a bail application in the high court.

The FIA registered cases against former prime minster Yousuf Raza Gilani, the late Makhdoom Amin Fahim, senior TDAP officials, exporters and bank officials on charges of embezzling export development funds, causing losses to the national exchequer through financial irregularities,  and making bogus export claims on freight subsidies approved by the previous PPP government for exporters. Former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also obtained bail from the trial court in TDAP corruption cases.

More than 65 cases have been registered over the embezzlement of over Rs5 billion under the head of freight subsidies in connivance with fake export companies. 

The FIA registered money-laundering cases against bank officers and front men of key political personalities for transferring money embezzled through corrupt practices to other cities through banking channels and massive foreign exchange to offshore accounts through the hundi system.

Police failure 

The high court took exception to the failure of the police and the home department to provide assistance in missing persons’ cases.

Hearing petitions against the detention of citizens, a division bench headed by Justice Irfan Saadat Khan observed that several directions were issued to law enforcement agencies and the home department, but no proper details had been filed in several detention cases.

The court also issued notices to federal and provincial law officers in fresh petitions against the detention of citizens, including Mushtaq, Amirullah and Yasir, who were picked up during raids in different parts of the city, and called their comments.