Pak anti-terror court issues arrest warrants for MQM leaders

A Pakistani anti-terrorism court today issued non-bailable arrest warrants against 25 leaders of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).
The arrest warrants were issued in a case registered against the leaders for facilitating MQM chief Altaf Hussain's July 12 speech critical of the military establishment.
The court acted on different FIRs registered by private complainants who alleged that the MQM leaders had attended a public gathering and listened to Hussain's outburst against the security agencies in his speech.
In his speech, Hussain had accused the paramilitary forces of torturing and killing his party workers.
According to details, the MQM leaders were charged under Section 12 (collection of evidence in the absence of accused) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

ATC judge Bashir Ahmed Khoso issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Hussain, MQM's mayoral candidate for Karachi Waseem Akhtar, senior party leaders Farooq Sattar and others.
Akhtar was nominated for the important Mayors post just last week after the party's landslide victory in the local bodies elections in Karachi and Hyderabad.
The judge also issued directives to the police to arrest and present the accused before the court on January 2.