KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Monday ordered to place names of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Farooq Sattar, Amir Liaquat and Khalid Maqbool on Exit Control List (ECL) in a case pertaining to attack on media houses and provocative speeches by the party’s London-based chief Altaf Hussain.
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 country 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.
After Altaf Hussain’s provocative and anti Pakistan speech, MQM leader Farooq Sattar and others disassociated from Altaf and renamed the party as MQM-Pakistan. INP
