PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday granted transit bail to leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh until Dec 13 in a case of rioting, attempted land grabbing and terrorism recently registered against him in Karachi.

Justice Syed Arshad Ali of a single-member bench accepted the petition of Mr Sheikh, a leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, seeking transit bail in the case registered by the Gulshan-i-Marmar police station in Karachi East area on Nov 16.

The petitioner also requested the court to direct the respondents, including the Sindh government, not to arrest him over any ‘anonymous’ FIR during the bail period.

The bench directed the petitioner to appear before the relevant Karachi court by Dec 13.

PHC asks Haleem Adil to appear before relevant Karachi court by Dec 13

The complainant in the FIR was assistant executive engineer of the Malir Development Authority Riaz Baig, who claimed that on the day of rioting, he received information from his staff members that some people were busy occupying the government’s land near Northern Bypass Road in Karachi.

He added that he reached the site along with his staff members and found 15-20 people led by Mr Sheikh, Haneef Kakar, Malik Farooq and Mohammad Shah Kazmi to be occupying the government’s land.

He complainant claimed that he and his staff members confronted those men, the latter, including Mr Sheikh, attacked them with sticks and even fired at them injuring some of them.

The FIR was registered under the Pakistan penal Code’s sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons), 186 (obstructing a public servant in discharge of his duty), 324 (attempted murder), 337A(1) (causing hurt), 447 (criminal trespass) and 511 (attempting an offence punishable with life imprisonment) and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Lawyers Mohammad Muazzam Butt and Shah Faisal Ilyas appeared for the petitioner and contended that their client had been named in a concocted case as he attended the provincial assembly’s session and a party meeting on the day of the incident.

They said 28 cases had so far been registered against their client, mostly on flimsy grounds.

The counsel contended that the petitioner was arrested over the previous cases but was freed on the bail granted by the court, so the government booked him in the rioting case in question.

They argued that the petitioner was a victim of ‘atrocities’ by the party ruling the Sindh province as the latter was afraid of the former for raising voice for the people.

Meanwhile, Mr Sheikh told reporters on the court’s premises that PTI chairman Imran Khan had been ruling the hearts of the people and was even ready to sacrifice his life for them, which was evident from the recent attempt on his life.

He said former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was an absconder and as he was suspected of being involved in the murder of journalist Arshad Sharif and attempt on the life of Mr Imran, he had left the United Kingdom.

The PTI leader called the PML-N the party of killers.

He claimed that more than four million people would attend the PTI’s Nov 26 Haqeeqi March in Rawalpindi to demand fresh elections in the country.

Mr Sheikh said his party had been ruling Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for nine years but it hadn’t registered a single criminal case on political grounds.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2022