IHC warns of contempt proceedings for failure to move Afridi from death cell
Pakistan
The court ordered the state counsel to provide a list of all the responsible officers on next date
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday issued an order on a contempt of court plea for police failure to produce Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shehryar Afridi before a magistrate in violation of its order.
Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir said, the violation of the court order in the case has exposed everyone from the Inspector General of Police to the investigating officer.
The court ordered the state counsel to provide a list of all the responsible officers from the IGP to the IO on the next hearing.
Declaring the police response unsatisfactory, Justice Tahir observed that the IO wrote letters as a cosmetic measure and that shifting of responsibility from one person to another in a bureaucratic style was an attempt not to avoid implementation of the court’s directives.
Afridi is being kept in the death cell at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail.
Justice Tahir observed in his order that if the violation continued, the court would consider issuing a show cause notice on the next hearing.
Afridi’s counsel, who met him before appearing in the court, said the former minister was held in the notorious cell where Mumtaz Qadri, the assassin of former governor of Punjab Salman Taseer, was detained.
He termed this a violation of the court’s June 5 order when it directed jail authorities to shift Afridi to a better class.
Justice Tahir also directed the Aabpara and Industrial Area Police to take Afridi into custody in connection with pending FIRs to bring him under the territorial jurisdiction of the Islamabad High Court.
However, when Justice Tahir resumed hearing of the case, the investigation officers from Aabpara and Industrial Area police stations informed him that they had submitted written requests to the Punjab Home Department for custody of Mr Afridi, but were still awaiting a reply.
The state’s counsel sought more time for compliance with the court’s order.
Justice Tahir expressed displeasure over the response of the police, saying that his previous order was “unambiguous”.
The court adjourned the hearing till June 19.
