In September, just as Afaq was being released on bail, the authorities had detained him further on the pretext of the Maintenance of Public Order rules as there was a fear of an outbreak of violence.
The party had earlier warned that it would not tolerate any attempt to prevent Ahmed’s release.
Ahmed had been granted bail for Rs0.5 million on Saturday by an Anti-Terrorism Court presided over by Judge Khalida Yaseen.
This was the last case against Afaq, who has been behind bars since 2004. The case dates back to 2001 when, according to the prosecution, some MQM-H activists barged into the KDA Korangi township office and kidnapped a sub-divisional officer named Jameel Ahmed Baloch, on May 5 at 11:30 am.
The FIR was lodged on May 6 at a half-past midnight by a man named Sheikh Abdullah. The police was investigating the case, when a Major Ashraf brought the supposedly kidnapped Baloch to the Korangi police station and told the men there that he was released from Baitul Hamza, the MQM-H headquarters.
