Daily Times

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court dismissed an application seeking urgent hearing of the bail pleas of Dr Asim Hussain and other co-accused in a case related to treating and harboring of suspected terrorists associated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and gangsters of Lyari at his hospital.

A division bench headed by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar dismissed the application as the court had already set on November 01 for the hearing of the bail applications.

Dr Asim, a former petroleum minister and close aide of PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, the MQM’s Karachi mayor Waseem Akhtar and Rauf Siddiqui, the Pakistan People’s Party’s Abdul Qadir Patel, and Anis Qaimkhani of the Pak Sarzameen Party had approached the high court seeking their release on bail.

Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah had earlier referred the bail applications to the bench comprising Justice Mazhar and Abdul Malik Gadi for hearing after the fourth bench had declined to proceed with the matter.

Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto was the fourth judge who rescued himself from the bench seized with hearing of the bail petitions when Barrister Sardar Abdul Latif Khosa, who represented Dr Asim, had raised an objection that he had rejected the application of his client seeking his release when he was the administrative judge of the anti-terrorism courts.

Subsequently, the matter was referred to the SHC chief justice for fixing it before another bench for hearing.

Earlier on September 21, 2016, Justice Ahmed Ali M Shaikh, who is a senior pusine judge, had refused to hear the bail applications and the matter was referred to the chief justice for assigning it to another bench. However, when the matter was fixed for hearing, the other member of bench had refused to be the part it and the matter was again referred to the SHC chief justice.

The accused had approached the Sindh high court after an anti-terrorism court had rejected their bail applications. In the pleas, the applicants maintained that they were implicated in a false case. The case against them was politically motivated, they added while requesting the court to release them on bail.

Police had registered an FIR on the complaint of a Rangers officer accusing Dr Asim of treating and harboring suspected terrorists associated with MQM and Lyari gang at his hospital.

Dr Asim was alleged to have catered them on the instructions from MQM leaders Waseem Akhtar, Rauf Siddiqui, Anis Qaimkhani and PPP leader Qadir Patel.

Dr Asim was picked up by the Rangers and was placed under preventive detention for investigation under Section 11-EEEE of the Anti-terrorism Act, 1997 in August last year.