PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has declared illegal the detention of a former provincial minister and leader of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Anwar Zaib Khan, on the order of Bajaur district’s deputy commissioner under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance.

A bench consisting of Justice Mohammad Naeem Anwar and Justice Shahid Khan accepted a petition filed by Anwar Zaib against the Oct 20 order of Bajaur’s DC for his detention and directed him to furnish two surety bonds of Rs100,000 each.

It also directed the petitioner to submit an undertaking that he will never be involved in any anti-state activities and will not act prejudicially to the public safety in any mode or manner.

The bench ruled that the authority issuing the impugned order under Section 3 of the MPO Ordinance had not exercised its mandate in accordance with the law on the matter.

PHC rules Bajaur DC violated law to order police to detain Anwar Zaib

“The impugned order has been issued in a mechanical manner without application of the judicial and independent mind to the case of the petitioner. Sufficient material has neither been collected nor presented before the Deputy Commissioner, Bajaur, and without applying an impartial and judicial mind, the impugned order has been issued mechanically,” it declared.

The bench added that the case of the petitioner had not been individually and specifically discussed nor had valid and genuine reasons been highlighted therein to “convince what to say of a judicial mind but even of an independent prudent mind.”

It observed that the detention order was issued under Section 3 of the MPO Ordinance curtailing the liberty of a person.

The bench ruled that it found that the right of freedom and liberty of the petitioner had been abridged, so guaranteed under Article 9 of the Constitution, as such, the court’s interference was inevitable in the matter for ensuring that such a person enjoyed exercise of such fundamental rights.

Referring to different judgements of the superior courts, it observed that the grounds for detention should not be vague but should rather be precise and if such grounds were not based on considering valid material before the authority, then such an order could be struck down by the court in exercise of its constitutional jurisdiction.

In the impugned order, deputy commissioner Mohammad Anwarul Haq had declared that the Bajaur district police officer had reported that the petitioner was found involved in holding protest gatherings and inciting the public for taking part in the protest gatherings against the government and state institutions and damaging government and state infrastructure in different parts of Bajaur district.

“The activities of the petitioner are posing a threat to public safety that might create disturbance of public tranquility, danger to human life, health, safety and public properties, and challenge writ of the state,” he had insisted.

The DC had ordered the PTI leader’s detention for 30 days.

Advocate Mohammad Adil appeared for the petitioner and contended that the petitioner had been implicated in different fake cases by the government on political grounds.

He said earlier, the DC had issued detention orders of the PTI leaders from Bajaur district, including the petitioner, under the MPO on May 12, 2023, but the high court set that order aside.

The counsel said an FIR was later registered against the petitioner and other leaders under different provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code after they had organised a programme in connection with the Independence Day on Aug 14.

He argued that another “baseless” FIR was registered against his client on Oct 19 when a PTI leader was released from prison and the petitioner along with PTI workers went to receive him.

Mr Adil added that when the petitioner got an interim pre-arrest bail, the DC issued an order on Oct 20 to put him behind bars.

He insisted that his client was a peaceful citizen and had never been involved in any illegal activity.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2023