News Desk |
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Saturday indicted Mayor Karachi Waseem Akhter and others in two cases pertaining to the May 12, 2007 carnage in Karachi.
According to details, Waseem Akhter, along with 21 other accused appeared before the court today and was indicted. All 21 pleaded ‘not guilty’ to the charges, which include clauses related to attempted murder, creating unrest and spreading terror.
Waseem Akhtar was the provincial home adviser to the chief minister at the time. Reportedly, the armed men wielding the weapons and firing indiscriminately at people were hoisting the flags of MQM.
Waseem Akther and all others pleaded ‘not guilty’ to the charges, which include clauses related to attempted murder, creating unrest and spreading terror. Fifteen others nominated in the cases had already been declared absconders by the court.
The court ordered the witnesses to be summoned in the case’s next hearing. The ATC had taken up one of the four cases, (86/2007), related to the carnage that resulted in the killing of around 50 people and injuries to many more.
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Waseem Akhter and 21 other accused had already been indicted in two separate cases pertaining to May 12 riots back in October this year.
May 12 Mayhem
It is pertinent to mention here that on May 12, 2007, around 50 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in attacks on rallies of different political parties and lawyers community; the supporters were to receive the then deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary at the Karachi airport.
Gunfights broke out throughout the city as soon as the plane landed at the airport; Smoke rose from at least four different areas of the city where competing rallies were organized. Due to the sudden violence that erupted throughout the city, the chief justice was unable to leave the airport and was forced to fly back to Islamabad after nine hours being restricted.
Read more: MQM: Existential Crisis or Cross Roads into the Unknown?
Waseem Akhtar was the provincial home adviser to the chief minister at the time. Reportedly, the armed men wielding the weapons and firing indiscriminately at people were hoisting the flags of MQM.