Waseem Akhtar (

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

: ; born 25 November 1955) is a Pakistani

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

of the Muttahida Quami Movement (P). He served as the

Mayor of Karachi Mayor of Karachi (Urdu: ; ) is the executive of the Karachi metropolitan corporation and the Karachi local government system of the city of Karachi, which is the third tier of governance in Pakistan after federal and provincial governments. ...

, Pakistan's largest city, from 2016 to 2020. Shortly after his nomination as Mayor, he was controversially arrested for what his supporters saw as political reasons. Akhtar worked as a telecommunication engineer for

AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...

in Saudi Arabia for ten years. After returning to Pakistan, he started radio sets and telephone sets assembly business which later expanded to pharmaceutical distribution.

Early life and career

After his early academic education, he finished his degree program in telecommunication engineering.

Personal life

Akhtar belongs to an

-speaking

Muslim Rajput Muslim Rajputs or Musalman Rajpoots are the descendants of Rajputs in the northern regions of the Indian subcontinent who generally are followers of Islam. They converted from Hinduism to Islam from the medieval period onwards, creating various ...

family. He is the son of Akhter Muhammad Khan. He runs a real estate business. He is married and has six children.

Political career

Mayor of Karachi

In 1987, he joined Muttahida Qaumi Movement. He is currently a senior member of MQM. After the

2015 Karachi local government elections 2015 Karachi local government elections were the second Karachi local government elections to elect a mayor and a local council. Voting There were 209 union committees and 38 union councils in Karachi. Both union councils and union committees ...

, Akhtar became the

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

on 24 August 2016. He took oath as Karachi mayor on 30 August 2016.

Arrest

Akhtar was arrested based on a Joint Investigation Team report on

Asim Hussain Asim Hussain, SI, NI (born 28 November 1953) is a Pakistani-Canadian, active in the fields of health, education, and Pakistani politics. He is chairman of Ziauddin Group of Hospitals in Karachi, and former Advisor of Prime Minister for Minis ...

. These reports, according to legal experts, are inadmissible in courts. The Anti-Terror Court which would try him has also been declared as "unjust and ineffective" by the

International Commission of Jurists The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) is an international human rights non-governmental organization. It is supported by an International Secretariat based in Geneva, Switzerland, and staffed by lawyers drawn from a wide range of jurisdi ...

. Akhter was arrested shortly after his nomination papers for the Mayor of Karachi were accepted by the

Election Commission of Pakistan The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is an independent, autonomous, permanent and constitutionally established federal body responsible for organizing and conducting elections to the national parliament, provincial legislatures, local g ...

(which requires that a candidate have no criminal record). Since he was nominated mayor of Karachi, unknown persons registered FIR against him in the District of Malir, home of then Senior Superintendent of Police Rao Anwar, who would later be suspended by the government. The Anti-Terror Court ordered his arrest, which seems part of chain of political crackdown against MQM, which has blamed the law enforcement agencies for transgressing their authority and extrajudicially killing many MQM workers, including Aftab Ahmed, a former coordinator for

Farooq Sattar Muhammad Farooq Sattar (; born 9 April 1959) is a Pakistani politician who is the Senior Deputy Convenor of the MQM-P. Born in Karachi, Sattar was educated at the Jinnah Sindh Medical University, Karachi. Sattar began his political career in 1 ...

. Akhtar also alleges that the court needlessly delayed his bail by not hearing his bail case.

Charges

Charges against Akhtar included that he listened to speeches by MQM founder Altaf Hussain and clapped. He is also accused of recommending people to Asim Hussain for medical treatment.

Fake confession reports

Pakistani media ran reported that Akhtar had confessed to murder, but his lawyers presented a signed letter from his jail declaring the reports to be false. Akhtar later himself appeared on the media and rejected the fake confession reports. MQM has also alleged that law enforcement agencies were pressuring Akhtar to withdraw as the mayor of Karachi. Some analysts opined that Akhtar was not being provided a fair trial.

Fake receipts in Asim case

Journalist Shahzaib Khanzada revealed that Rangers had submitted forged medical receipts intended to show that Akhtar had recommended alleged terrorists receive treatment from Asim. All of the receipts belonged to innocent residents (the receipts and addresses were authentic but names had been changed).

Amnesty International

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

published a report stating that the life of Akhtar while in detention might be in danger because of torture and ill treatment by the law enforcement agencies.

Release from jail

Akhtar was released from detention on 16 November 2016 after getting bail on all 39 cases.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akhtar, Waseem Living people Mayors of Karachi 1955 births Muhajir people Muttahida Qaumi Movement politicians Pakistani prisoners and detainees Pakistani expatriates in Saudi Arabia 21st-century Pakistani businesspeople Pakistani MNAs 2008–2013