An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Saturday accepted the chargesheet submitted by Sindh Police against Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain.
The chargesheet declares Altaf Hussain an absconder in a case pertaining to using threatening language against Sindh Rangers.
The latest development comes after the court concluded a hearing of the case registered earlier against the MQM chief.
Investigation Officer (IO) Mohammad Naeem submitted a chargesheet in court under Section 512 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which was accepted by the presiding judge. During the hearing, the IO stated in court that Altaf Hussain could not be produced in court as he is not present in Pakistan. The court directed the IO to continue his investigation and submit a report in this regard at the next hearing. A notice was also earlier issued to Altaf Hussain to appear in court.
The First Information Report (FIR) of the case was registered in March at Civil Lines Police Station by Col Tahir of Pakistan Rangers.
Earlier this week, a three-member bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) was constituted to assess the maintainability of a case against MQM chief for his earlier remarks about the Pakistan Army.
In July, FIRs were registered in different parts of the country against Altaf Hussain for remarks made by him against the director general of Sindh Rangers and the paramilitary force in recent speeches.
In the FIRs, Hussain was accused of involvement in cases of criminal conspiracy, waging or attempting or abetting the waging of war against Pakistan and committing acts of terrorism.
