Karachi mayor Waseem Akhtar gets bail in ‘hate speech case’

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Saturday granted bail to Karachi mayor and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Waseem Akhtar in a case pertaining to making things easier for founder MQM Altaf Hussain in a bid to make provocative speeches particularly in which he ordered to attack ARY News Karachi bureau last August.

On August 22, violence flared on the roads of Karachi after Hussain, who has taken a refuge in London for more than 20 years, addressed supporters in the city via another telephone call, made worrying anti-Pakistan statements and ordered them to attack media houses including ARY News for allegedly not giving due coverage of his workers.

That very speech later led to a political chaos in Karachi that went absolutely against his own party for the first time in history.


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MQM workers clashed with police and ransacked ARY News office leaving one person dead and several others injured.

Later Hussain’s second-in-command Farooq Sattar “completely disowned” Hussain’s statements on behalf of MQM and apologised for his remarks, blaming “mental stress”.

Since then MQM headquarters Nine Zero have been sealed and several sectors and unit offices in the metropolis and elsewhere in Sindh have been demolished. Several treason cases were also filed against Hussain and MQM senior leadership.

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