Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar on Tuesday filed a request in the Sindh High Court demanding that his bail plea be accepted. In the request directed to Chief Justice Sindh High Court Sajjad Ali Shah he said that he has been imprisoned in jail since July 19. He added that after he was sent to jail additional eight cases related to the May 12 massacre were levelled against him. He said that the allegations were baseless.
In the request he said that despite being elected as the mayor he has been in jail for the last 48 days. "I cannot serve the city while in jail," he said.
He requested the court to stop the police from levelling further allegations on him without a court order. There are allegations on Waseem Akhtar of assisting party Chief Altaf Hussain in delivering provocative speeches. A Joint Investigation Report (JIT) quoted Akhtar admitting that he had been directed by the MQM founder Altaf Hussain to stop a rally on May 12, 2007 which was being spearheaded by the then chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. Akhtar, then the Adviser to Sindh CM for Home Affairs said he was directed to prevent the rally from being a success, no matter how many people die, stated the report. Waseem Akhtar has denied these charges.