KARACHI: Dr Zulfikar Mirza, a disgruntled and disowned leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, on Tuesday thwarted the provincial government’s efforts to arrest him as the Sindh High Court on his plea not only restrained law-enforcers from arresting him, but also served on the provincial and city police chiefs show-cause notices for attempting to take him into custody despite his being on protective bail in all 13 cases registered against him and his associates.

Mirza, who reached an antiterrorism court at around 11am, confined himself inside the courtroom for over eight hours as extraordinary security arrangements were made with hundreds of policemen surrounding the ATC, located adjacent to the SHC.

Take a look: Dr Mirza’s plea for transfer of cases to sessions court

Apprehending Mirza’s arrest, his counsel filed a fresh constitutional petition in the SHC in the late afternoon against the provincial authorities for making arrangements and attempts to arrest him.

SHC restrained the authorities from arresting the former Sindh home minister, whose pre-arrest bail was also extended by an ATC till May 30

Mirza’s wife, Dr Fahmida Mirza, also later reached the SHC as the news about the possible arrest of her husband spread.

A division bench headed by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah became irked when the petitioner’s counsel submitted that the authorities had made extensive arrangements for his client’s arrest despite earlier assurance by the government law officer that he would not be arrested.

The counsel pointed out that earlier in the first half of the day, a division bench headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto had taken up Mirza’s petition seeking transfer of all cases against him to Karachi.

He said that the bench was also informed that the authorities appeared to have decided to arrest Mirza as a very large number of policemen along with their senior officers had besieged the entire locality around the ATC. He said that the bench had ordered the authorities not to arrest Mirza and act in accordance with the law.

The bench headed by Justice Shah issued show-cause notices to the inspector general of police and the DIG-Karachi for disobeying the court’s order and restrained the authorities from arresting Mirza.

The court halted its proceedings for a while and summoned the IGP and the DIG concerned. Later, it was informed that the two police officers could not be contacted. Then the court summoned the home secretary who appeared in the evening to earn censure from the judges.

The home secretary was directed by the judges to order withdrawal of the heavy contingent of police from around the ATC and SHC.

At around 7pm, Mirza left the ATC after the deployment of police was removed.

Pre-arrest bail extended till 30th

An ATC extended on Tuesday the interim pre-arrest bail of Mirza and his 47 associates in three cases till May 30.

Mirza, who is facing multiple cases in Karachi and Badin, along with his associates did not leave the courtroom of the ATC-I for around eight hours after getting extension in bail due to fear of being arrested as police besieged the court.

The former minister along with his dozens of aides and supporters was initially booked in three cases on May 3 under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 for allegedly storming a police station in Badin, abusing the police officials, forcibly shutting down the markets in the district, trying to kill two shopkeepers and robbing their shops.

The ATC granted Mirza interim pre-arrest bail on May 9 for 10 days and later also allowed interim bail applications of other suspects and asked them to come up on May 19 for confirmation or otherwise.

Mirza and other suspects along with the legal team appeared before the court and after a brief hearing Judge Bashir Ahmed Khoso of the ATC-I extended the interim pre-arrest bail of all the suspects till May 30 and fixed three applications of the former home minister, seeking transfer of the cases to a regular court, on May 25 for hearing.

Earlier, the law enforcement agencies blocked the roads leading to the ATCs, currently located in four barracks of the Sindh Secretariat, by placing containers and barricades.

A heavy contingent of police, including commandos and anti-riot personnel, was deployed in and around the courts and the law-enforcers barred the entry of almost everyone by sealing the main entrance of the secretariat. Judges, prosecutors, lawyers, court staff and government servants faced hardship in reaching the courts and offices. Journalists and lawyers were allowed to enter the ATC premises through an entry point from the Sindh High Court.

The police encircled a barracks, which houses the ATC-I and two others ATCs, shortly after Mirza entered the court around 11am. The law-enforcers almost blocked the entrance, where commandos, personnel in plain clothes and anti-riot force were deployed.

Mirza’s wife also joined her husband at the ATC during his around eight-hour stay in the courtroom.

She came out of the court along with him and others after the withdrawal of the police.

She told the media that she considered it was the worst form of democracy as police were called from four districts and her husband was restricted to a courtroom despite SHC orders.

She said that her husband was being framed in many cases, but appreciated the judiciary for enforcing its orders.

Two cases were registered against the former home minister and his aides on complaints of two traders, Imtiaz Ali and Haji Taj Mohammad. The complainants alleged in the FIRs that the suspects tried to kill them, forced them to shut their business, extended threats and took away Rs3.7 million and Rs3m from their shops.

Another case was registered against Mirza and others on a complaint of Badin’s additional SHO Wali Mohammad Chand for allegedly storming the police station to get a case registered against PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur and others.

The FIR said that Mirza had argued with the police, snatched the mobile phone of a police officer and flung it to the ground when the latter refused to register an FIR. He also ransacked the police station.

The SHC chief justice transferred the cases from the Hyderabad ATC to an ATC in Karachi after the trial judge, Abdul Ghafoor Memon, expressed his inability to proceed with the cases on the grounds that Dr Mirza’s father, Justice Zafar Hussain Mirza, was his senior in the profession when he was a lawyer.

— An earlier version of the story had incorrectly reported Justice (Retd) Zafar Hussain Mirza as deceased. Justice (r) Hussain passed away on August 27, 2015. The error is regretted

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2015

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