PHC asks govt not to re-arrest PTI leader Ali Mohammad
PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and National Accountability Bureau yet again to produce details of all cases and inquiries pending against detained PTI leader and former MNA Ali Mohammad Khan in the province.
Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Ijaz Anwar also ordered authorities not to re-arrest Mr Khan over any criminal case.
The petitioner, who has been arrested six times and detained in a case registered by the anti-corruption establishment in Mardan, moved the court seeking orders for law-enforcement and anti-corruption agencies to submit details of the cases and inquiries against him.
Advocate Ali Zaman appeared for the petitioner, assistant advocate general Barrister Yaseen Raza and deputy attorney general Ashfaq Daudzai represented the provincial and federal government, respectively, whereas Salman Fayyaz Mir appeared for NAB.
Seeks details of cases against ex-MNA yet again
Mr Zaman said that despite getting bail in number of criminal cases registered under various sections of law and proceedings initiated under section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, 1960, still the respondents including the police and different anti-corruption bodies were bent upon to arrest and harass the petitioner in undisclosed/ new cases.
He said his client had requested the government to provide them with details of the cases or inquiries pending against him, but to no avail.
The lawyer contended that during the July 5 hearing, the court ordered respondents to submit comments on the petition along with records of pending cases and inquiries against the petitioner, but they had so far not complied with the order.
AAG Raza said the respondents had been formally asked to share details of cases, which, once available, would submit to the court.
Lawyer Zaman said the arrest of the petitioner was politically motivated and the government had been registering concocted cases against him.
He said the petitioner had been detained since May 11. He added that last month, the government informed the high court that apart from the known cases against the petitioner, there were no other cases pending against him.
The counsel, however, said when his client was granted bail by the special (anti-corruption) court on June 27 in a case registered by the ACE, he was re-arrested by the ACE claiming that another case was registered against him on June 26, wherein he was charged with committing certain irregularities in development schemes in Mardan.
He said his bail petition was pending with the special court with July 22 fixed for hearing, so it was feared that if he was granted bail, he would be re-arrested.
Meanwhile, the bench also sought details of cases and inquiries pending against former PTI MNA Mujahid Khan from the provincial government until July 20.
The bench was hearing a petition filed on behalf of Mujahid Khan by his relative Riaz Khan, seeking details of the cases registered against him and also seeking protective bail in the cases so that he could appear before the relevant courts.
Advocate Shah Faisal Uthmankhel appeared for the petitioner and said his client wanted to appear before the court but couldn’t do so as the police were searching for him to take him into custody.
In a lighter vein, Justice Ijaz Anwar remarked that nowadays, the people had been taken out of prison to attend a meeting.
The AAG said the petition was liable to be rejected as firstly, it was not filed by Mujahid and secondly, the former lawmaker didn’t appear before the court.
The bench directed him to provide the required details for examination.
Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2023