Security and Rs 500,000 last hurdles in Afaq’s way home

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) granted bail on Saturday to Mohajir Qaumi Movement (Haqiqi) chief Afaq Ahmed in a kidnapping for ransom case. The Haqiqi chairman was granted bail at the ATC-II against a surety of Rs 500,000 in the kidnapping case of Jameel Ahmed Baloch – registered in 2001 at the Korangi police station.
On November 21, after hearing arguments from both sides, the ATC headed by Judge Khalida Yasin had reserved the judgement on the bail application. According to the prosecution, Baloch – an engineer at Karachi Development Authority – was abducted on May 6, 2001 and the case was registered at the Korangi Police Station against former Sindh Assembly MPA Younis Khan, Zafar Khan and two unidentified suspects.
However, sources in the Korangi police told Pakistan Today that the nominated people were released on bail in 2003 and the name of Ahmed inducted in the FIR in 2005 on mala fide intention.
In its order, the court observed that considering the contents of FIR and charge sheet of the case in the bail plea, the applicant was not nominated in the FIR as his name was placed in column two of charge sheet (lack of evidence).
It was stated that as per the victim’s lawyer, the statement of a Pakistan Rangers colonel, who reportedly negotiated with Ahmed for releasing the captive, was evidence, but the court cannot treat it like one because the name of the colonel was not mentioned in the case’s charge sheet.
Discarding the prosecutor’s contention that the applicant was a proclaimed offender and did not deserve normal rights under the law, the court ruled Ahmed was in prisons for the past seven years and the police was aware of it, but neither they arrested him nor produced him before the court of law.
The court stated that Ahmed’s offence also did not attract Section 356-A (kidnapping for ransom) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) but falls within the ambit of Section 348 (simple detention).
Meanwhile, some co-accused in the case were acquitted by the court on the same grounds while three nominated persons were convicted under Section 348 of the PPC. Earlier on July 14, the Sindh High Court (SHC) had ordered the police not to arrest or implicate the Haqiqi chairman in any other case without informing the high court.
In the last case registered against him, Ahmed was permitted bail by the SHC on September 28 but the Sindh Home Department ordered that he be kept in judicial detention under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO).
Although the bail plea of the Haqiqi chairman was accepted by an anti-terrorism court on Saturday, Afaq will have to wait for a few more days to come out of prison until his foolproof security is ensured. Talking with Pakistan Today, Haqiqi Vice Chairman Shamshad Khan Ghauri said that ensuring security for Afaq is the only hurdle remaining in his release.
“The MQM-H has already filed a petition in the Sindh High Court (SHC) for deploying Rangers personnel when he [Ahmed] is released,” he said. “We cannot wait for a single day and want him out of prison, but his security is the only hurdle in the way.”
The Haqiqi vice chairman was of the view that as the court has accepted Ahmed’s bail in the last of the “fabricated” cases, now it is the provincial government’s responsibility to provide security to the Haqiqi chief before and after his release from prison.
“The party will write applications to all senior superintendents of police in the city and Pakistan Rangers for the security of party chief as the party leadership is not satisfied with security arrangements by police,” he said. “Rangers can only be deployed if the federal and provincial governments want, otherwise not.”
Earlier at the Karachi Press Club (KPC), Ghauri while addressing a press conference said the court has accepted the bail of Ahmed and now his security is the only remaining hurdle on the way to his house. He alleged that the government had imposed MPO on Afaq for one month just to appease its coalition partner, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), and afterwards the Haqiqi chief was nominated in a 10-year-old fabricated case, but now the court has again accepted his bail plea.
“Terrorists from MQM have attempted to kill Afaq four times but he escaped every time. This was also admitted by a target killer named Ajmal Pahari in the Joint Investigation Team report,” Ghauri claimed, alleging that self-exiled MQM chief Altaf Hussain was directly involved in targeted killings in the city and issues orders for killing his opponents. Supporting former home minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza’s claims of MQM working against the country’s interests, the Haqiqi vice chairman vowed that the MQM-H would continue supporting Mirza in exposing the MQM.
“Afaq has also provided some video evidence to Mirza showing direct involvement of the MQM chief in bloodshed in Karachi,” he said. “[But] if the government believes in politics of reconciliation, it is not ethical to accept unlawful demands of its coalition partner.”
Ghauri said the MQM-H demands that the provincial government should provide security to Ahmed immediately as the party would not tolerate any negligence.