KARACHI: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC-2) on Monday granted bail to senior Muttahida Qaumi Movement's (MQM) Rabita Committee member Amir Khan in a case pertaining to instigating terrorism and harbouring criminals.

The ATC-2 ordered Khan to pay Rs1 million in surety bonds. The court also ordered that Khan cannot leave the country without permission. Earlier the court had reserved its decision after hearing arguments from both sides.

Read: Order reserved for next week on Aamir Khan’s bail plea

The MQM leader and several others were booked for allegedly providing shelter to 26 wanted suspects arrested by Rangers during a pre-dawn raid on and around the party’s Nine Zero headquarters in Azizabad on March 11, and using them for terrorist activities.

Take a look: Rangers raid MQM HQ in Karachi, detain member of Rabita Committee

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

In a previous 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.