PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday granted transit bail for a day to two Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leaders, including vice-chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi and former secretary general Asad Umar, in a case registered by the Islamabad police over the May 9-10 violent protests.

Justice Wiqar Ahmad of a single-member bench accepted separate petitions of the two for transit bail and directed them to appear before the Islamabad High Court on Friday (June 23).

He also directed the PTI leaders to produce two surety bonds each of Rs80,000.

Lawyers Shah Faisal Uthmankhel and Sher Afzal Khan Marwat appeared for the petitioners and said their clients were to appear before the Islamabad High Court in the case on June 23 but feared arrest by the local police before their entry to the high court premises, so transit bail should be granted to them for appearance in the court.

Asks PTI leaders to appear before Islamabad High Court today

They insisted that the petitioners were not involved in violent protests but were booked due to the police’s “ulterior motives and mala fide.”

The case was registered at Islamabad’s Tarnol police station on May 10 under the Pakistan Penal Code’s sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from the discharge of his duty), 341 (wrongful restraint), 382 (theft after preparation made for causing death, hurt or restraint in order to the committing of the theft), 440 (mischief committed after preparation for causing death or hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation), 148 (rioting while armed with a deadly weapon), 149 (every member of an unlawful assembly guilty of an offence committed in prosecution of a common object), 186 (obstructing public servants in discharge of public functions), and 123-A (condemnation of the creation of the state and advocacy of abolition of its sovereignty).

In the FIR, the police claimed that 250-300 PTI activists had blocked the Grand Trunk Road after the arrest of party chief and former prime minister Imran Khan, shouted anti-state slogans and attacked a police party besides snatching their anti-riot kits and damaging their vehicles.

They added that the protesters acted in line with a video message of the PTI chairman as well as the orders of Asad Umar and Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

An additional sessions judge in Islamabad had rejected the pre-arrest bail pleas of the two PTI leaders on June 20.

Mr Qureshi told reporters after appearing before the PHC that the PTI was a national party with a “very bright future.”

He said the PTI was the name of an ideology, which was first accepted by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and later by the entire nation.

Mr Qureshi said his last meeting with Mr Imran was very positive. He refused to comment on the rumours of PTI-minus Imran Khan.

He later cut a cake to celebrate his 67th birthday amid the presence of ILF members, Asad Umar and former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser.

PLEAS DISPOSED OF: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday disposed of the petitions of former PTI lawmakers Ali Mohammad Khan and Asad Qaiser for seeking details of the cases registered against them in the province.

Two benches heard the petitions and were informed by the relevant additional advocate general that Mr Ali Mohammad and Mr Qaiser faced no more cases in the province.

A bench consisting of Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Shakeel Ahmad heard the petition of Ali Mohammad.

The former lawmaker’s counsel, Ali Zaman, said his client had repeatedly been arrested in different cases and was imprisoned in connection with a case registered by the ACE in Mardan, wherein he along with several former lawmakers was charged with carrying out illegal appointments in fisheries department.

He added that the bail petition of the petitioner in the case was pending with the special judge (anti-corruption) in Peshawar.

“My client has been arrested multiple times, so we fear his re-arrest after release on bail by the special court,” he said.

He requested the court to grant his client bail in all cases registered against him and ask the government not to re-arrest him.

The lawyer also complained that the government didn’t provide him with details of the cases registered against his client.

Additional advocate general Mohammad Nisar informed the bench that presently no other case had been registered against the petitioner except the one in which he was imprisoned.

The bench disposed of the petition observing that it wwwhad become infructuous.

Also, a bench consisting of Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Syed M. Attique Shah disposed of a similar petition by Mr Qaiser after AAG disclosed that except the one registered in Swabi over the May 9 protests, the former lawmaker wasn’t booked by police anywhere else in the province.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2023