The judicial magistrate read out the charges against the city mayor Waseem Akhtar, Opposition leader in Sindh Assembly Khawaja Izharul Hasan, MPA Mehfooz Yar Khan and Sathi Ishaq.

The MQM-P leaders were asked if they confessed to the crime they have been alleged with.

The accused persons, denying the charges pleaded not guilty and decided to contest the same.

The court summoned the prosecution witnesses for evidence on April 19.

Besides these leaders, MQM-P convener Dr. Farooq Sattar and MNA Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui were also booked by police in June 2016 after they organized a protest outside the CM House over water scarcity in the city. According to the prosecution, around 500 people, most of them unknown, gathered outside the CM House and disrupted law and order situation on the incitement of the leaders.

The protestors rioted in the Red Zone, blocked roads and violated the law, it added.

The protest was started from the Karachi Press Club. MQM-P leaders led the protest but were stopped by police in the way.

They moved ahead and as the march reached near the CM House, a skirmish ensued, as the police had put containers as barricades on the road to stop the protestors from going further.