Waseem Akhtar (Urdu: وسیم اختر; born 25 November 1955) is a Pakistani politician of the Muttahida Quami Movement (P).

[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.

[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.

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.