KARACHI: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Saturday announced to indict accused Abdul Zahid in four cases pertaining to the May 12 carnage on the next hearing.
The accused was provided charge sheets as the ATC was hearing the four cases.
Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar and 21 other accused also appeared before the ATC. Akhtar and the others have already been indicted in another case relating to the May 12 carnage while 14 other suspects have been declared absconders by the court.
Speaking to the media outside the court after the hearing, Akhtar said that he could not serve the people in a proper manner owing to the lack of cooperation from Sindh government.
“We could have served the people better if resources were made available at the time, and development packages were given by the federal government,’’ the mayor said. He said: ‘’after tying up our hand and feet, we were told to serve the people Karachi,” he said.
The mayor further said that Karachi was not given its due rights.
To a question, he replied that it was the court’s orders for the federal government to resolve the issue of Pakistan Quarter’s squatters.
Earlier, on May 12, 2018, at least 34 people were killed and over 140 others injured as a major portion of Shahrah-e-Faisal turned into a battlefield as rival political groups clashed with each other soon after the arrival of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, who remained confined to the lounge of the Jinnah International Airport throughout the day and returned to Islamabad without addressing a lawyers’ convention on the premises of the Sindh High Court.
The thoroughfare was to be used by the procession of the then chief justice but was made completely inaccessible to commuters as all the intersections were blocked by large containers and trucks.
The failure of the Sindh government and the law-enforcers to maintain law and order made the city hostage to political workers. However, Adviser to the Sindh Chief Minister on Home Affairs Waseem Akhtar blamed the chief justice for a breakdown in law and order and deaths in incidents of violence.
Journalists had also staged a sit-in at the airport in protest against manhandling of newsmen and camerapersons at various troubled spots by political workers and against an armed attack on a local TV channel. Many camerapersons were injured and their expensive cameras smashed while they were beaten up.
