KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Saturday issued arrest warrants for former Karachi mayor and Muttahida Quami Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Waseem Akhtar in a case pertaining to the provision of shelter and medical treatment to militants.
The court issued bailable warrants for the MQM-P leader over his absence from the hearing. The court adjourned the case until March 12.
Akhtar, former Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) minister Asim Hussain, Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) founder Anis Qaimkhani and Rauf Siddiqui of MQM-P have been nominated in the case registered at the North Nazimabad police station in 2015.
According to the case, registered on the complaint of the Rangers, Hussain treated and harboured suspected terrorists and militants at the North Nazimabad and Clifton branches of his Ziauddin Hospital at the request of some MQM and PPP leaders.
Hussain was suspected to have done this on instructions of Akhtar, Siddiqui, Qaimkhani and a PPP MP Qadir Patel. All the accused are out on bail.
Earlier, a counsel for Rangers, Sajid Mahboob Shaikh, claimed that Hussain used to provide medical treatment to members of the militant wing of MQM. He also provided treatment to 13 terrorists of the Lyari gang war and six fighters of al-Qaeda, he added.
