No joy for Haqiqi as judge refuses to hear Afaq’s plea

The possible release of Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi chief Afaq Ahmed was postponed yet again on Monday as the Sindh High Court (SHC) judge refused to proceed with the application filed by the detained leader, seeking quashment of a ‘fake’ murder case against him – the last case registered against the Haqiqi chief while being behind the bars.
Earlier, the proceedings were postponed on the last hearing due to the absence of the prosecutor. The application was being proceeded before the single SHC bench headed by Justice Tufail H Ibrahim and he had given the last chance to the prosecutor for arguments for July 25.
Insiders told Pakistan Today the prosecutor’s absence was on the directions of the provincial government because the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), opposing the release of Ahmed, was putting pressure on the Pakistan People’s Party-led Sindh government.
However, Justice Ibrahim resigned from his office over some unspecified reasons a couple of days ago and the application was transferred to court of Justice Sheikh for further proceedings.
As the Haqiqi chief’s application came before the single bench of Sheikh for proceeding on Monday, he refused to hear it.
Through his counsel, Advocate Ilyas Khan, Ahmed had moved the application against his implication in the murder case of Atiqur Rehman in June 2009 within the Nabi Bux police station, pleading not guilty.
In the last hearing, his counsel had argued that his client had been in jail since April 2004 and over the past couple of years implicated in a number of new cases as the abettor at the behest of political rival MQM.
The advocate contended that Ahmed has been politically victimised through the launch of several baseless cases against him and the prosecution has failed to produce any solid evidences to prove his involvement in any offence in the trial court. He said that Ahmed had only been put on trial in a case registered against him at the Nabi Bux police station, for which the trial court had dismissed his bail and acquittal applications, adding that the prosecution had no solid evidences to support their case, which was lodged in June 2009 while the Haqiqi leader was in prison.
The complainant of the murder case against the Haqiqi chief, Shahzad, had lodged an FIR (222/09) under sections 302 (premeditated murder), 324 (attempted murder), 109 (punishment of abetment if the act abetted is committed in consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code. He stated in the FIR that at the behest of Ahmed, some Haqiqi workers had killed his brother Rehman.