Two leaders of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and Abdul Rauf Siddiqui, obtained on Wednesday protective bail in suspected terrorism cases registered against them for listening to MQM chief Altaf Hussain’s outburst against the national security agencies.
The Sindh High Court’s division bench headed by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar awarded protective bail to Rauf Siddiqui for 10 days against the surety bond worth Rs 20,000 each in six cases. However, it approved 12-day protective bail for Khalid Maqbool with surety of Rs 50,000 in a case.
Over 100 cases have been registered against Altaf Hussain under the clauses of the Pakistan Penal Code and Telegraph Act and Sections 6 and 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997 for making remarks against the military establishment and other national security agencies in his speeches.
The applicant MQM leaders, who were nominated in the cases registered against MQM chief at different police stations, moved the court seeking bail to avoid their arrest by the police.
During the hearing, they submitted that they were booked for attending the public gathering and listening to Altaf’s speech. They claimed these cases were politically-motivated and registered at the behest of their political rivals with sole purpose to victimise them. The applicants’ counsel argued that no case was made out against the MQM leaders as the cases were registered with malafide intention only to send applicants behind the bars. The applicants pleaded with the judges to grant them bail to avoid their unlawful arrest and victimization at the hands of law enforcement agencies.
