| Order: | 29th Mayor of Karachi |
| Predecessor: | Syed Mustafa Kamal |
| Successor: | Murtaza Wahab |
| Deputy: | Arshad Vohra (until March 2019) |
| Order1: | Pakistani Parliamentarian from Karachi, Sindh |
| Birth Date: | 25 November 1955 |
| Birth Place: | Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan |
| Residence: | Karachi, |
| Profession: | Telecommunication Engineer |
| Party: | MQM-P (2016-present) |
| Occupation: | Politician |
| Term Start: | 30 August 2016 |
| Term End: | 29 August 2020 |
| Term Start1: | May 2008 |
| Term End1: | May 2013 |
Waseem Akhtar (Urdu: ; born 25 November 1955) is a Pakistani politician of the Muttahida Quami Movement (P). He served as the Mayor of Karachi, 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 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.[1]
After his early academic education, he finished his degree program in telecommunication engineering.
Akhtar belongs to an Urdu-speaking Muslim Rajput family. He is the son of Akhter Muhammad Khan. He runs a real estate business. He is married and has six children.
In 1987, he joined Muttahida Qaumi Movement.[3] He is currently a senior member of MQM.
After the 2015 Karachi local government elections, Akhtar became the Mayor of Karachi on August 24, 2016.[4] He took oath as Karachi mayor on 30 August 2016.[5]
Akhtar was arrested based on a Joint Investigation Team report on Asim Hussain.[6] [7] These reports, according to legal experts, are inadmissible in courts.[8] The Anti-Terror Court which would try him has also been declared as "unjust and ineffective" by the International Commission of Jurists.[9] [10]
Akhter was arrested shortly after his nomination papers for the Mayor of Karachi were accepted by the Election Commission of Pakistan (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.[11] [12] 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.[13] Akhtar also alleges that the court needlessly delayed his bail by not hearing his bail case.
Charges against Akhtar included that he listened to speeches by MQM founder Altaf Hussain and clapped.[14] He is also accused of recommending people to Asim Hussain for medical treatment.
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.[15] 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.[16] Some analysts opined that Akhtar was not being provided a fair trial.[17]
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 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.[18]
Akhtar was released from detention on November 16, 2016 after getting bail on all 39 cases.[19]