An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) earlier yesterday awarded 81 years of rigorous imprisonment to Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) supremo Altaf Hussain.
The court also issued orders to confiscate the MQM chief’s property over his anti-state speeches.
Announcing the verdict, ATC Judge Raja Shahbaz Khan directed the MQM chief to submit a fine of Rs2.4 million in the court, ordering the Sindh Inspector General of Police to produce Altaf before the court.
In July, Altaf had made inflammatory remarks against law enforcement agencies, followed by a plea to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) and the United Nations (UN) to send their troops to Karachi.
“Rangers personnel treat people in Karachi exactly how the Indian troops behave in occupied Kashmir,” Altaf had said while addressing his party’s lawmakers and workers, adding the paramilitary forces are behaving like a mafia in the financial hub of the country.
Earlier in May, after facing strong criticism over his comments regarding the army, MQM chief Altaf Hussain had apologised if his words had “hurt national security institutions and patriotic people.”
Altaf’s controversial remarks against the law enforcement agencies had sparked country-wide outrage, with the national and provincial assemblies passing condemnation resolutions against the UK-based leader of the party.
Further, numerous FIRs had also been filed against him in various police stations across the country, demanding an arrest of the MQM leader, who has been living in a self-imposed exile in London for more than two decades.
