PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has stopped the police and other law-enforcement agencies from arresting Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader and former provincial minister Kamran Khan Bangash in cases registered against him and directed the provincial government to respond to his petition seeking details of those cases and ongoing inquiries against him.

A bench consisting of Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Syed Mohammad Attique Shah asked the respondents, including the provincial government, police and other law-enforcement agencies, to file their respective response to the petition within 10 days.

It fixed Dec 27 for next hearing into the petition filed by Mr Bangash observing that he should not be arrested in the FIRs already registered against him until then.

The petitioner has sought the court’s orders for respondents to submit details of the cases registered and inquiries launched against him by different government agencies.

Seeks govt reply to ex-minister’s plea for details of cases against him

His lawyer, Ali Zaman, requested the bench to grant an interim relief to his client and direct the government and agencies not to act against him until the disposal of the case.

He pointed out that the petitioner was initially arrested on Oct 20 by the police in Peshawar on the charges of providing shelter to former federal minister and PTI leader Murad Saeed.

Mr Zaman said a case was registered at the Chamkani police station against him under the Pakistan Penal Code and Anti-Terrorism Act for charging him with harbouring a proclaimed offender (Murad Saeed).

He said he was granted bail by the ATC in the case but he was simultaneously charged in other cases registered in Dera Ismail Khan, Tank and Chitral districts.

The counsel argued that the petitioner approached the relevant courts and got bail in cases but the local police continued to harass him.

He contended that under Article 19-A of the Constitution, it was the right of the petitioner to be provided with details of the cases pending against him.

Additional advocate general Danyal Asad Chamkani appeared for the government and claimed that the details of cases had already been shared with the petitioner.

He added that if the petitioner still believed that there were other cases against him, then time should be granted to him (Chamkani) to get information about it.

Meanwhile, a high court bench adjourned until Dec 19 the hearing into scores of petitions by former PTI lawmakers and leaders to seek details of cases registered against them.

Chief Justice Mohammad Ibrahim Khan and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim also questioned whether an accused in multiple cases could be arrested multiple times.

It also appointed senior lawyers Shabbir Hussain Gigyani and Barrister Amir Khan Chamkani as amicus curiae in the cases.

The bench adjourned hearing into the cases due to a countrywide strike by lawyers. The petitioners showed up before the court in person.

Noted among petitioners are imprisoned former National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, former MNAs Anwar Taj, Fazal Mohammad Khan, Junaid Akber and Mujahid Khan, former provincial minister Fazal Shakoor Khan, and several other PTI leaders.

They requested the court to direct the government to provide them with details of cases pending against them.

The petitioners also raised questions about the repeated arrests of party leaders for being named in other cases.

Moreover, the bench extended until Dec 19 the orders for law-enforcement agencies not to arrest five former lawmakers and a PTI mayor until then.

During the last hearing on Dec 12, the bench declared that the petitioners should not be arrested until Thursday.

The petitioners included former MNAs Saleemur Rehman and Sahibzada Sibghatullah and former MPAs Mian Sharafat, Taj Mohammad Tarand and Fazal Hakeem, and mayor of Swat’s Babuzai tehsil council Shahid Ali Khan.

They claimed that they had moved the relevant courts from time to time to get bails in cases registered against them but law-enforcement agencies, including police, continued to raid their houses and harass them.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2023