17 MQM-L activists released on bail

A court on Monday granted bail to 17 activists of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-London (MQM-L) in a case pertaining to alleged rioting and unlawful assembly.

Former MPA Nisar Panhwar and 16 others were detained after they, along with a number of women and children, tried to stage a protest outside the Karachi Press Club (KPC) on the occasion of Independence Day.

A case was lodged against them under sections 147 (rioting), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object) and 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot) of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Artillery Maidan police station.

The investigating officer produced the detained suspects before the judicial magistrate-XIV and requested their remand for interrogation. On the other hand, the counsel for the suspects moved an application seeking their release on bail. The court turned down the IO’s plea for the grant of police remand and ordered the release of the suspects, subject to the submission of a Rs5,000 surety.