Farooq Sattar, Amir Liaquat should be put on Exit Control List, suggests ATC

An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Monday instructed the police to get in touch with the relevant authorities to put the names of Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) leader Farooq Sattar, Khalid Maqbool and Amir Liaquat on the Exit Control List.

The instructions were given after the police failed to produce the absconders in front of the court for the past several hearings of five identical cases regarding the facilitation of hate speech and sedition.

The court also issued fresh non-bailable warrants against the three accused and ordered the police to arrest and produce them in court in the next hearing of the case on March 13.

Sattar and the others had been charged for listening to, organising, and facilitating a speech by Hussain against the military establishment and security agencies, and the other incidents which saw workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement attacked two media houses on Aug 22.

About 2,000 unknown MQM activists were also termed absconders in the charge-sheet.

The ATC had issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Farooq Sattar and MQM founder Altaf Hussain on September 28, 2016, in a case for hate speech and sedition.

Earlier, on the day of the speech, Sindh Rangers took Sattar along with MQM leader Khawaja Izhar ul Hasan into custody while they were trying to address the media outside Karachi Press Club.

The two leaders had gathered to address the media in connection to the attack on ARY News, however, as they were about to start the press conference, Rangers officials arrived at the site and asked both the leaders to come to Rangers headquarters.

However, the two were released after eight-hour-long custody.

Source: Dawn