PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court on Tuesday extended protective bail to Bushra Bibi, the wife of incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan, till Dec 23 and directed law enforcement agencies not to arrest her till then in any of the cases.

A bench consisting of PHC Chief Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Wiqar Ahmad while granting her exemption from personal appearance on Tuesday warned that it won’t allow her any exemption from appearance on next hearing.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by Bushra Bibi, seeking directives of the court for respondents including federal and Punjab governments and different law enforcement agencies to furnish copies and details of FIRs and inquiries, if any, wherein her arrest was required to them.

She has also requested the court to restrain the respondents from arresting or harassing her in any manner without due process of law and without prior permission of the high court.

Warns won’t exempt her from appearance on next hearing

The petitioner’s counsel Alam Khan Adenzai contended that his client had been released from Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, last month after remaining incarcerated there for many months in fabricated cases.

He stated that during previous hearing, the court had granted her protective bail till Nov 18, which had now expired. He added that so far complete details had not been provided by the government about the cases pending against her.

He argued that there was likelihood that more fake cases were registered against the petitioner by federal and Punjab governments, about which she had no knowledge. He pointed out that he had field an exemption application as the petitioner had been facing certain health problems due to which she couldn’t turn up in the case.

National Accountability Bureau, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, also submitted its report, stating that neither there was any case registered against her in the province nor any inquiry was in progress.

Respondents in the petition are federal government through secretary interior, Punjab’s home secretary, inspectors general of police of four provinces and Islamabad, Federal Investigation Agency director general, directors of anti-corruption establishments of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan and coordinator of National Counter-Terrorism Authority (Nacta).

BAIL: The bench also granted protective bail for a month to Leader of Opposition in Senate Syed Shibli Faraz, and sought details from the federal government and its law enforcement agencies about cases registered against him.

Advocate Alam Khan Adenzai appeared for the petitioner and stated that his client was unaware of the number and nature of cases registered against him by the federal government and LEAs.

He requested that details of those cases be provided so that the petitioner could approach the relevant courts. He pointed out that the petitioner would be appearing tomorrow (Wednesday) in one of the cases registered in Faisalabad. He requested the bench to grant him protective bail so that he could approach the concerned court.

Meanwhile, Shibli Faraz told journalists that holding a peaceful protest was their constitutional and political right. He said that imposition of Section 144 of Code of Criminal Procedure, which was remnant of colonial rulers, on peaceful protests exposed the cowardice of the government.

He said that scores of concocted cases had been registered against leaders and workers of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf under the anti-terrorism law by the government, thus it had ended distinction between a terrorist and a political worker.

He said that the government and law enforcement agencies had been involved in crackdown on PTI instead of performing their real duties. “We are political people and not terrorists. The government has been suppressing PTI for over two years but it has failed to achieve its designs and the spirit of party workers has further increased,” he said.

Dispelling the impression of any differences between Bushra Bibi and Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, the PTI leader said that the former won’t be leading the Nov 24 protest as she was not inclined to join politics.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2024