The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday instructed the authorities to deal with the arrests of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s workers in the federal capital in the light of the directives of Supreme Court.
Additional Deputy Commissioner Rana Waqas appeared before the court and said that 37 people had been sent to jail while 23 were released on submission of surety bonds on directives of this court. He said that ten people had so far not submitted surety bonds. The ADCG adopted the stance that several people were detained a day earlier keeping in view the law and order situation in the city.
Chief Justice Athar Minallah, who was hearing the case, remarked that top court had directed the administration to take action only against those who were named in any first information report (FIR). The ADCG said that a police van was stopped and people tried to forcibly release the protesters. The court said that there were clear directives of the top court that only those should be arrested who have names in criminal cases. The hearing was then adjourned.
The IHC Thursday extended the interim bail of PTI’s leaders including Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, Qasim Suri, Shahbaz Gill and Haleem Adil Sheikh in Madina heckling incident case. Chief Justice Athar Minallah heard the case filed by the PTI leaders regarding the matter. The petitioners’ lawyer, Ali Bukhari, adopted the stance that his clients could not appear before court this day due to the closure of various routes and protests in the city.
He further argued that now the matter of protest had been shifted to the Supreme Court but the case related to the Saudi Arabia incident was still here. The court extended the interim bails of the PTI leaders till June 10, and adjourned the case.
Also, IHC on Thursday directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to reconsider a case against TV anchor Sami Ibrahim. Chief Justice Athar Minallah, hearing the case against the harassment of journalists including Sami Ibrahim and Arshad Sharif, remarked that it seemed that the FIA was only monitoring social media. The chief justice remarked that the courts were opened in night because it was their responsibility to protect the constitution. When the court had no objections regarding statements against it what was the problem with FIA, he questioned.
The court said that the journalists were filing cases against the FIA. The FIA’s official adopted the stance that it had not served any notice on Arshad Sharif. However, it had asked Sami Ibrahim, through a notice, to become part of the investigation. The FIA said that it had conducted a meeting with Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) on the directives of this court.
Sami Ibrahim adopted the stance that he had just raised journalistic questions, adding that he had not given any remarks about the state institutions. The court instructed the anchor to send his answer to the FIA through PFUJ. The hearing of the case was adjourned till June 10.
