An anti-terrorism court (ATC) indicted the imprisoned chief of Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi on Monday in a kidnapping-for-ransom case of City District Government Karachi (now Karachi Metropolitan Corporation) employee Jameel Baloch.
Haqiqi chief Afaq Ahmed pleaded not guilty to the allegation and decided to stand trial, following which the court fixed the date of January 12 for the hearing of the case and summoned the prosecution witnesses as well.
Judge Khalida Yaseen of the ATC-II conducted the hearing of the case at the Karachi Central Jail. According to the prosecution, Ahmed was accused of abducting Jameel Baloch for ransom in 2001.
Previously, Haqiqi’s former Sindh Assembly member Younus Khan and another party activist were arrested on the same charges, but they were released later due to lack of evidence. The case against two other accused remained pending.
A decade later, when Ahmed was acquitted in all cases, police put down his name as an accused in Baloch’s case. The court was informed that Ahmed was recently identified as an accused.
He was brought before Yaseen of the ATC, the same court that had granted Ahmed bail of Rs 500,000 in the case on November 27.
Ahmed denied the charges levelled against him, following which the court summoned witnesses in the hearing to take place on January 12.
According to sources, Additional Home Secretary Waseem Ahmed met with Ahmed and asked him to leave Pakistan because releasing him could affect the government. Waseem told Ahmed that a coalition party in the government is exerting pressure to keep him detained.
“Waseem asked Afaq to leave the country because his life is in danger and the government cannot protect him. Afaq told Waseem that he would not agree to any out-of-court settlement. Moreover, Afaq said he would neither leave the country nor try to curb his party’s activities,” the sources added.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Sindh High Court (SHC) had given the Sindh Home Department three days to decide the matter of the Haqiqi chief’s second detention under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance.
According to the court’s order, if the Home Department failed to resolve the issue, the SHC would make a decision itself.
The hearing for Ahmed’s second detention under the MPO Ordinance would be held in court on December 15. The petition challenging the detention would be heard on December 16 as well.
