PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court on Wednesday granted protective bails to several lawmakers and leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf till Dec 24 and directed law enforcement agencies not to arrest them in any cases till then.

A bench consisting of PHC Chief Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Wiqar Ahmad also directed federal government and its law enforcement agencies to provide details of cases registered against those leaders within 10 days.

The petitioners included leader of opposition in Senate Shibli Faraz, MNAs Asad Qaiser, Shehram Tarakai, Sheharyar Afridi and Zartaj Gul, provincial ministers Aftab Alam and Faisal Tarakai, and other leaders namely Khadija Shah, Nadia Khattak, Rauf Hassan, Dawar Kundi, Iman Tahir and Mohammad Basharat Raja.

During course of hearing, the PHC chief justice remarked in a lighter vein that all the leaders of the party were in the high court, they should convene their meeting there.

Seeks details of cases against them from govt within 10 days

Advocate Alam Khan Adenzai appeared for the petitioners whereas federal government was represented by an additional attorney general Sanaullah Khan.

Mr Adenzai contended that the petitioners were leaders of PTI and they had been charged in multiple cases after Nov 24 and onward protests in Islamabad. He said while the petitioners were aware about some of the cases in which they obtained transit bails, they had no knowledge of other cases, which the government had been keeping secret and not disclosing to them.

He argued that the petitioners wanted to move relevant courts for getting relief but they apprehended that they would be arrested in cases of which they had no knowledge.

He said that under the Constitution, it was the fundamental right of them to be provided information about criminal cases wherein they were charged. He added that multiple cases were registered against them on political grounds.

AAG Sanaullah argued that cases had also been registered against the petitioners in other provinces, which were not in the jurisdiction of that high court. He pointed out that a day earlier, the high court had asked the petitioners’ counsel in identical cases of other party leaders to assist the court whether those petitions were maintainable or not.

He added that the relief sought by petitioners about the cases pending in other provinces was not maintainable.

The bench observed that it would seek information from federal government about the cases registered against the petitioners in its jurisdiction.

The bench observed that regarding other provinces, the court would grant protective bails to the petitioners with the direction to approach the relevant high court for getting details of cases registered there.

Meanwhile, a single-member bench of Justice Shakeel Ahmad accepted petitions of several PTI leaders and granted them transit bails till Dec 27 in cases registered during and after Nov 24 protests.

The petitioners included Senator Shibli Faraz, Asad Qaiser, Shahram Tarakai, Zartaj Gul, Rauf Hassan, Dawar Kundi, Khadija Shah, Iman Tahir, Nadia Khattak, etc. The bench directed the petitioners to appear before the relevant court by Dec 27 otherwise those orders would become ineffective.

Mohsin Farooq, Irshad Ahmad, Alam Khan Adenzai and other lawyers appeared for the petitioners and stated that they were falsely implicated in the cases registered after Nov 24 protests in Islamabad and other districts. They requested the bench to allow transit bails to the petitioners so that they could appear before relevant courts.

During course of hearing the bench observed that the petitioners should also take care of the state and avoid activities damaging the country.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2024