IHC nullifies eight-day physical remand of PTI MNAs who were dramatically arrested
Pakistan
Justice Farooq wonders how all orders of the physical remand are entirely similar
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday turned down police plea for eight-day physical remand of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNAs and sent them on judicial remand.
A division bench, headed by IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, conducted hearing of the case related to the arrests of the PTI leaders after Sangjani public rally. Justice Saman Raffat Imtiaz was part of the division bench.
Islamabad Bar Council (IBC) Vice Chairman Adil Aziz Qazi and Raja Haleem Abbasi represented the complainants whereas the prosecutor general came from state's side.
Justice Farooq wondered how all orders of the physical remand were entirely similar. He criticised the author of the FIR and said it's nothing short of comdey.
At one point, Justice Farooq burst into laughter when he was told that a pistol was recovered from PTI chief Barrister Gohar.
"It's been four days now. You have done whatever you wanted to do but what is the reason behind an eight-day physical remand," he asked.
The MNAs' counsel cited Wahab Al-Khairi case after which Justice Farooq issued a short order for the relief of the PTI leaders.
The court announced its reserved verdict by nullifying the physical remand of the PTI leaders, paving the way for judicial remand.
PRODUCTION ORDERS
A day earlier (Thursday), 10 MNAs of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) were produced in the National Assembly for participation in the session.
A heavy contingent of Islamabad police escorted the members to Parliament House where they were handed over to the acting Sergeant-at-Arms.
Those produced were Sheikh Waqas Akram, Zain Qureshi, Sher Afzal Marwat, Malik Awais Jhakar, Malik Amir Dogar, Ahmad Chatha, Zubair Khan Wazir, Syed Ahmad Ali Shah, Syed Naseem Ali Shah, and Yousaf Khan.
National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq had issued production orders for their appearance.
CRACKDOWN ON NA PREMISES
In an unprecedented move a few days ago, security officials said to be of Islamabad police conducted an operation against the PTI leaders and took all those who had sought refuge in Parliament House into custody.
Police took the action a day after the PTI held a public gathering in Islamabad's Sangjani area on the allegation of multiple violations.
The federal police arrested MNAs Zain Qureshi, Sheikh Waqas Akram, Awais Ahmed Chatha, Syed Ahmed, Sunni Ittehad Council's Sahibzada Hamid Raza, Yousaf Khan, Maulana Naseem Shah, and Ahmed Shah Khattak.
Sources said that prior to the arrests, the lights in Parliament House were turned off, allowing officers to enter the premises.
Earlier, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar, Sher Afzal Marwat, and Shoaib Shaheen were arrested. Marwat, Gohar and Zubair Khan were apprehended while exiting Parliament House, though Zartaj Gul managed to escape.
Ali Muhammad Khan left Parliament House and was not arrested.
