PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday extended protective bail of Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub Khan and another PTI MNA, Faisal Amin Khan, until Feb 16 and directed the federal government and its law-enforcement agencies to produce details of cases against the two lawmakers.

Alam Khan Adenzai, lawyer for Omar and Faisal, informed a bench consisting of Justice Sahibzada Asadullah and Justice Wiqar Ahmad that his clients had been named in multiple cases registered in Islamabad and other areas.

He said that the petitioners wanted to surrender to the relevant courts but they had not been provided with details of their cases, so they feared arrest in “undisclosed” cases.

The counsel said that the petitioners had filed present petitions seeking directives for the government to provide details of cases against them.

Seeks details of cases registered against two PTI lawmakers

He, however, said that so far the required details had not been provided.

Mr Adenzai said that earlier, the high court granted protective bail to them until Dec 19, which would expire now.

Assistant attorney general Daulat Khan contended that earlier, the high court disposed of a petition of Mr Omar Ayub after the government provided details of cases against him.

He added that the petitioner had again approached the court with the same prayer.

Mr Adenzai said that following disposal of the earlier petition, new cases had been registered against his client but he had not been provided with their details.

Mr Omar Ayub told the bench that despite protective bail given to him, he was arrested in Adiala prison early this month.

He added that he was freed on the orders of a court, which declared his arrest illegal.

The PTI leader pointed out that he had regularly been appearing before the relevant courts after being granted bail by the high court.

He later told reporters that the government appeared to be not interested in talks with the PTI.

“We won’t be approaching anyone for negotiations. Anyone who is interested in talks with us should step forward,” he said.

Mr Omar said that a negotiation committee had been constituted by PTI founder Imran Khan.

He said the court proceedings in the Al-Qadir Trust case had continued until late on Wednesday (Dec 18), while normally, courts continued to function until 3pm or 4pm.

The opposition leader wondered why the hearing lasted for such a long time.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2024