KARACHI: An antiterrorism court on Wednesday remanded three Muttahida Qaumi Movement workers for 90 days to the Rangers custody for interrogation in cases related to targeted killing, kidnapping for ransom and extortion.

The paramilitary troops brought Jamil alias Babu, Atiq and Masood Rajput amid tight security to produce them before the ATC.Meanwhile, the court extended for five days physical remand of two suspects — Mujeeb Ullah and Faisal Masood — in terrorist activities, money laundering and China-cutting land cases.

The suspects were picked up in April by the law-enforcement agency upon receiving credible information with regard to their alleged involvement in targeted killing, kidnapping and extortion cases, the offences punishable under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

They were placed under preventive detention for three months under Section 11EEEE (1) of the ATA for questioning.

On Wednesday, the investigating officer requested for extension in the physical remand of the suspects for further inquiry. He said the suspects had sold over 2,000 plots illegally in Surjani Town and Bath Island. He said several documentary proofs and details of bank accounts had been collected regarding the illegal practices committed by the suspects.

MQM leader not shifted to hospital

Meanwhile, the Karachi Central Prison authorities informed an ATC that the intern leader of the MQM, Qamar Mansoor, could not be shifted to a private hospital due to security reasons.

Mr Mansoor, who was earlier sent on a 90-day preventive detention in the Rangers custody, was granted permission by the ATC to receive medical treatment at a private hospital at his own expense.

Last week when Mr Mansoor was presented before the ATC-II, he was seen limping as two Rangers personnel helped him walk up to the courtroom.

During the hearing, his counsel Advocate Shaukat Hayat moved an application requesting that Mr Mansoor be provided medical treatment at two private hospitals as doctors there had records of his ailments.He informed the presiding judge that he had suffered from kidney and spinal problems for the past 16 years, and that his condition was worsening during the detention, he complained of displacement of the spinal cord and blood in his urine.

The counsel for the Rangers opposed the application, requesting the court to dismiss it.

Mr Mansoor and Kaiful Warah, who was in charge of MQM coordination committee, were detained by the Rangers in a pre-dawn raid on the party’s Nine-Zero headquarters earlier this month.

They were apprehended for “arranging and facilitating” what Rangers director-general Maj Gen Bilal Akbar called “hate speeches against peace of Karachi”.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2015

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