Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday restored the authority of the Islamabad chief commissioner and deputy commissioner (DC) to detain individuals under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO). The order was issued by an IHC division bench consisting of Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri.
This decision stemmed from an intra-court appeal filed by the chief commissioner and interior secretary, challenging a previous ruling by a single bench that deemed the Islamabad DC’s power to issue an MPO as illegal.
The ruling was made during the hearing of a petition related to the detention of PTI leaders Shehryar Afridi and Shandana Gulzar.
Previously, the IHC had suspended the arrest warrants of PTI leader Shehryar Afridi under the MPO and directed his immediate release. Afridi had been arrested on May 16 and subsequently rearrested on May 30 under Section 3 of the MPO Ordinance, 1960.
In addition to these developments, the court indicted the capital Deputy Commissioner (DC) Irfan Nawaz Memon and three others for contempt in Afridi’s case.
While DC Memon and SSP Zafar pleaded not guilty and offered unconditional apologies, SP Farooq Buttar and SHO Naseer Manzoor denied the contempt charges during the court proceedings.
