LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Friday set aside the second detention of Hafiz Saad Rizvi, leader of the proscribed Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), notified by the Punjab government under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.

Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh announced a short order on a petition against the detention after a law officer of the provincial government concluded his arguments. Rizvi is likely to be released on Saturday (today) after the release of a detailed order by the court.

Workers of the TLP burst into chants as soon as the judge allowed the petition filed by Ameer Hussain, an uncle of Rizvi.

Responding to the queries of court, the law officer admitted that the grounds taken for the subsequent detention of Rizvi were almost similar to those of the previous detention.

Asked about the approval of the detention by the cabinet, the law officer said the approval was sought from the cabinet members through WhatsApp and also communicated to the government officials through the same mode.

Justice Sheikh observed that the government failed to comply with the relevant laws to issue the impugned detention order and had no new ground to keep the detainee in its custody despite a refusal by a provincial review board.

The petitioner’s counsel, Burhan Moazam Malik, had argued that the government detained Rizvi on political grounds. He said a review board of the high court had turned down a government’s request to extend detention of Rizvi under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance 1960. Therefore, he said, the government with mala fide intention extended the detention of Rizvi under section 11 EEE of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 for another 90 days.

The counsel stated that the government implicated Rizvi in 14 criminal cases after detaining him.

The detention of Rizvi had come after his organisation (TLP) staged sit-ins across the country demanding the government to expel the ambassador of France in the wake of blasphemous cartoons. The protesters turned violent and attacked the police personnel.

Rejecting the plea to extend the detention of Rizvi, the review board had found mala fide and contradiction in the government’s stance on the TLP.

The board noted that the government, on one hand, itself agreed to get the issue decided regarding the expulsion of the French ambassador from Pakistan through legislation in parliament and, on the other hand, it had been seeking extension in the detention of Rizvi on the ground that he had been demanding the fulfillment of the agreement.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2021