National

May 12 case: 16 defendants ordered to appear before ATC on Feb 3

January 22, 2018

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May 12 case — Pakistani opposition parties activists gather in front of burning vehicles after clashes erupted between the government and opposition parties supporters in Karachi, 12 May 2007. Eight people were killed and 45 injured in violence which broke out ahead of a rally by Pakistan's suspended chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. Mobs also set fire to a police post, four buses, a dozen cars and 10 motorcycles as several clashes broke out. Chaudhry was suspended on March 09 by President Pervez Musharraf on charges that he abused his power, unleashing a wave of nationwide protests and turning the judge into a symbol of defiance. AFP PHOTO/Aamir QURESHI / AFP PHOTO / AAMIR QURESHI

After an advertisement regarding the absence of 16 no-show defendants of the cases relating to May 12, 2007, from the court was published in a newspaper on anti-terrorism court’s (ATC) orders, they have inched closer to being declared as absconders on Sunday.

Earlier on Saturday, the hearing of the case was conducted in ATC’s court number three in Karachi.

During the hearing of the case—which also has Mayor Karachi Waseem Akhtar as one of the co-defendants—the court directed the investigation officer to take the aforementioned measure in accordance with Section 87 of the criminal code.

Moreover, the ATC had also ordered the no-show accused to appear before it on February 3.

It is crucial to mention here that the list of the 16 accused, who are at large, includes Haq Nawaz, Umair Hussain Siddiqui, Dildar Mian, Abdul Ahad and Abdul Waheed.

The Karachi mayor is a defendant in 39 cases, seven of which pertain to the “May 12 mayhem”.

Akhtar, arrested in July 2016, was sent to ATC for a trial but was granted bail in November.

Over 50 people were killed on May 12, 2007, in gunfights and clashes that erupted in the city after opposition parties which supported the judge and the pro-government political party activists took to the streets against each other.