KARACHI – Imprisoned mayor of Karachi and Muttahida Qaumi MovementPakistan leader Waseem Akhtar was granted bail on Wednesday in the last of 39 cases against himand so he would be released in a short while.
An anti-terrorism court in Karachi granted bail to Waseem Akhtar in a case pertaining to the facilitation and provision of medical treatment to alleged terrorists and gangsters at PPP leader Dr Asim Hussain’s Zia ud Din hospital.
The ATC judge granted Akhtar bail against a surety bond of Rs500,000 on the grounds that the Sindh High Court had previously granted bail to others co-accused in the same case. The court will issue the mayor’s release order after submission of the surety bond.
Akhtar has been behind bars since July 19, 2016. He was elected mayor of metropolis from behind the bars and was still managing the office from jail.He had been facing trial in 39 cases ranging from facilitation of terrorists and hate speech.
Talking to a leading television channel, the mayor said that he will write a book about time he spent in prison.
“Time spent in the Karachi and Adiala jails was the worst in my life.” he said.
Around 30 of the 39 cases pending against him are related to listening and facilitating of the speeches of MQM’s founder Altaf Hussain. Some eight cases are in connection with violence in Karachi on May 12, 2007.
Earlier, Akhtar was granted bail in 38 cases, while four people, including the prime suspect in the case Dr Asim Hussain have already been granted bail in this case.
PPP’s Abdul Qadir Patel was also granted bail in the case, while Rauf Saddiqui, Anees Qaimkhani and Usman Moazzam had been granted bail by the Sindh High Court, whereas Saleem Shahzad has been declared an absconder in the case.
