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July 04, 2008	Friday	Jamadi-us-Sani 29, 1429

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KARACHI, July 3: Justice Khwaja Naveed Ahmed of the Sindh High Court restrained the police from arresting Dadu District Nazim Karam Ali Jatoi and former senator and MPA Sadaqat Hussain Jatoi in their petition in the high court for quashment of an allegedly bogus criminal case against them.

Karam Ali Jatoi is the son and Sadaqat Jatoi a brother of former federal minister Liaquat Ali Khan Jatoi. Seeking bail for the applicants, Advocate Raja Qureshi stated that they have been involved in an incident of exchange of fire between political rivals resulting in the death of one person on the eve of the February 18 general election.

A second FIR was registered in the case but it was quashed by a sessions court. The police was now out to arrest them in the first FIR, which did not assign any specific role to them in the alleged offence. They have already sought quashment of the case as it was politically motivated. Their petition was pending in the high court but the police seemed to be in a hurry to proceed against them

Bail for ex-MPA

Former MPA and taluka nazim of Daulatpur, district Nawabshah, Dr Bahadar Dahiri, was, meanwhile, granted bail before arrest in the sum of Rs100,000. He is alleged to have been involved in a protest against rioting that followed the assassination of PPP leader Benazir Bhutto.

A number of people were booked by police for protesting against the damage caused by rioters and Mr Dahiri was one of them. Advocate Raja Qureshi submitted on behalf of the applicant that he was innocent and committed no offence by speaking out against rioting.

Children’s production

Justice Khalid Ali Z. Qazi, meanwhile, gave advocate Saleem Mangrio a last opportunity to produce on Friday his three children from Mst Zubaida Khanam allegedly detained by him against their wishes. Petitioner Zubaida Khanam submitted through advocate Mahmood Hasan that she had been married to Mr Mangrio for over nine years when he threw her out of his residence on April 22.

He did not allow her to take the children along and snatched them from her. She had two daughters, namely seven-year-old Maria and eight-year-old Bakhtawar and a son, Bilal. At the end of April her husband divorced her. She said she had not seen or had any contact with her children since.

The court first ordered the respondent husband on June 21 to produce the three children on June 25. The respondent failed to comply and the court again asked him to produce the children. A search warrant was issued but an official of the Aziz Bhatti police station reported that the respondent’s house in Shantinagar was locked when he visited it to execute the warrant.

On July 2, the previous date for production, the respondent’s counsel said he had informed his client of the court’s direction but had not been able to contact him of late.

Justice Qazi gave him a last opportunity to comply with the court order and produce the children on July 4.