KARACHI: Senior Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Rabita Committee member Amir Khan was released from Karachi Central Jail on Tuesday, a day after an anti-terrorism court (ATC) granted him bail.
After fulfilling legal requirements and submission of surety bonds of Rs1 million, Khan was released today.
Yesterday, the ATC had granted bail to Khan in a case pertaining to instigating terrorism and harbouring criminals. The ATC-2 had ordered Khan to pay Rs1 million in surety bonds which was submitted today.
The court had also ordered that Khan cannot leave the country without permission.
The MQM leader was picked up with dozens of other suspects by the Rangers in a pre-dawn raid on and around the party headquarters Nine Zero in Azizabad on March 11.
While placing them under 90-day preventive detention, the paramilitary force had informed the court that they had credible information about their alleged involvement in crimes related to targeted killing and terrorism.
Also read: Amir Khan remanded in judicial custody
On June 4, the Rangers handed over the MQM leader to the police after registering a case against him and others for allegedly harbouring criminals and using them for terrorist activities and the following day he was remanded in police custody for a week.
According to the FIR, besides around 59 suspects, including Amir Khan, placed under preventive detention, the paramilitary force had also arrested during the March 11 raid 26 armed suspects, including Faisal Mehmood alias Faisal Mota, who was sentenced to death by a court in absentia for the murder of journalist Wali Khan Babar; Obaid alias K2, who was wanted in many cases; and Noman alias Nomi, an absconder in the Advocate Niamat Ali Randhawa murder case.
In a recent hearing, the defence counsel had argued that the allegations against Khan were baseless since there was no independent witness in the case and all the prosecution witnesses placed in the charge-sheet were Rangers and police officials.
He had further submitted that the prosecution remained unable to bring out any incriminating evidence against the applicant despite detaining him for around three months, adding that the arrested suspects had also not deposed against him for sheltering them.
The Rangers' raid at the headquarters of one of the largest political parties in the country today appears to have symbolic significance in the Karachi operation that has been underway since October 2013.
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