Karachi: A larger bench of the Lahore High Court has been formed to determine the admissibility of an application to register a treason case against Altaf Hussain, the chief of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).
Court sources said the larger bench would comprise Justice Mazahir Naqvi, Justice Mazhar Sidho and Justice Erum Sajjad Gul.
Aftab Virk, a lawyer in Lahore, is the litigant, who approached the court seeking a trial against Hussain for treason. Virk came into the limelight when he registered a case against the Geo, the largest private television channel in Pakistan after it accused the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) chief for an attack on one of its leading anchors.
More than a hundred cases were registered in dozens of districts of the country against Hussain and other leaders of the MQM after a speech he delivered to his supporters earlier this month.
The speech harshly criticised Pakistan’s army generals and the military establishment for actions they allegedly took against the MQM, in an ongoing operation of the paramilitary Rangers in Karachi. The party accuses law enforcement agencies of abducting its workers and killing them in extrajudicial executions.
The party disowned Hussain’s speech, saying it was made at a private not a public gathering. The speech was criticised by the political parties, especially the opponents.
First Information Reports (FIRs), or police complaints, were registered against Hussain in the following weeks and about 125 such FIRs were lodged at many police stations in all the four provinces.
The charges included the clauses of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) that addresses hate speech, inciting for violence and terrorism.
MQM has been going through upheavals as many of its officer bearers have been arrested by the law enforcement agencies.
Hussain has dissolved the coordination committee of the party for not defending him and the party effectively against the volleys of barbs accusations.
