Stunning Reversal: Islamabad High Court Overrules ATC’s Eight-Day Physical Remand of PTI MNAs
At least three top PTI members were arrested late Monday night in various areas of Islamabad. Plainclothesmen invaded Parliament House just after 3 a.m. on Tuesday, removing further PTI legislators.
At least ten MNAs, including Sher Afzal Marwat, Malik Amir Dogar, Ahmed Chattha, Zain Qureshi, Sheikh Waqas Akram, Zubair Khan Wazir, Awais Haider Jakhar, Syed Shah Ahad Ali Shah, Nasim Ali Shah, and Yousuf Khan Khattak, were arrested and placed on physical remand for allegedly inciting violence at the Sangjani rally on September 8.
A day ago, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz heard the MPs’ appeals against physical custody and suspended the ATC ruling.As a result, the 10 MNAs were placed on judicial remand.
Justices Farooq and Imtiaz began hearing the matter today and reserved their decision after hearing arguments on both parties.
When they announced the reserved verdict, they overturned the ATC’s physical remand order.
According to the written judgment, a copy of which can be obtained via Dawn.com, the PTI parliamentarians “shall be in judicial custody” after the challenged ATC order was overturned.
Adil Aziz Qazi, Vice Chairman of the Islamabad Bar Council, Barrister Taimur Malik, Advocate Raja Haleem Abbasi, and Shahbaz Khosa represented the suspects at the hearing.
The Islamabad prosecutor general and officials from the capital police were also present.
He described the contents of the initial information report as “good comedy”.
Hearing
As the prosecutor general entered the courtroom, Justice Farooq said, “So, the state has arrived.”
“I’ve noticed that every physical remand order is the same,” he said.
The judge said, “Let the state explain what transpired to require physical remand for eight days.” “There isn’t a prior example of this kind of action.”
Justice Farooq joked that the FIR’s “author is also interesting” after the prosecutor general finished reading it and questioned how the Islamabad police could “get caught up” in skirmishes.
The IHC Chief Justice stated, “Credit must be given as have gotten to see good comedy after a long time.” He commented, “Whoever wrote this FIR wrote a good comedy.”
They gave Shoaib Shaheen control of a pistol. “Do I not know him?” inquired the judge.
“About Gohar Khan, they are claiming to have recovered a pistol from him. Do you and I not know Gohar Khan?” he wondered.
“You have read the comedy,” Justice Farooq said, referring to the FIR. “Now what else is left to recover from them?”
At this point during the hearing, the prosecutor general told the court that a “cane has been recovered from Shoaib Shaheen”, at which some people in the court burst into laughter.
The prosecutor general then said that a pistol had been obtained from PTI MNA Sher Afzal Marwat’s possession.
Speaking to the state attorney, Justice Farooq observed that four days had gone since the arrests. “You have done whatever you had to do,” he added.
Why was an eight-day [physical] remand granted? It might have lasted for two days,” the magistrate noted. “Custody is granted, but the court has final say over custody,” he said.
The judge continued, criticizing the lawmakers’ case, saying, “Ridiculous allegations were leveled in this case and eight days of remand was allowed.”
Here, Adil, one of the petitioner’s attorneys, reminded the court of an earlier ruling by the Supreme Court and disclosed that a bail petition had been submitted to the ATC but had not been heard. “It’s possible that our order arrived late. Let’s investigate it. Farooq, Justice
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