Farooq Sattar, Waseem Akhtar indicted in 3-year-old case of Loudspeaker Act violation

A local court on Wednesday indicted the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Dr Farooq Sattar and Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar in a case pertaining to violation of the Loudspeaker Act.

The accused pleaded "not guilty" to the charges.

The charge could not be framed against other party leaders, including Nasreen Jalil, Wasay Jalil, Faisal Sabzwari and Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui since they were absent from the court of the judicial magistrate (East) concerned, which was set to frame charge against them in the present case.

A case was registered against nine MQM leaders in 2015 after the party held a protest rally against the arrests of workers and Rangers raids at party offices. The rally began at Karachi's Liaquatabad area and was to culminate at the Rangers Headquarters located near Sindh Assembly, but police stopped the participants near Numaish Chowrangi.

A case under Section 188 of the Pakistan Penal Code, Sections 2/3 of the Loudspeaker Act read with Section 13-D of the Arms Ordinance was registered at the New Town police station.

Cases were registered against Sattar, Rizvi, Nasreen Jalil, Wasay Jalil, Faisal Sabzwari, Siddiqui, Akhtar and others for violation of the Loudspeaker Act and Section 144 of the Pakistan Penal Code, and 'harassing commuters' during the rally.

The FIR stated that 1,500 to 2,000 workers of the MQM gathered at MA Jinnah Road to protest against the government, during which the Loudspeaker Act was violated as party leaders made speeches.

Police also booked the MQM leaders for creating hurdles for the general public through blocking roads. The case was registered under section 147 (punishment for rioting), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of an offence committed in prosecution of common object) and 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) of the Pakistan Penal Code and the Section 6/7 of the Sindh Sound System Act.