KARACHI: After at least six FIRs in the province, the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday stopped the police from arresting PTI Senator Azam Swati in any more cases till Dec 15.

The directives were issued by a two-judge bench which took up a petition filed by the senator’s son Usman Swati to restrain the police from arresting his father and quash the cases against him.

Sindh Prosecutor General Dr Faiz Shah and Inspector General of Police Ghulam Nabi Memon appeared before the court.

The bench, headed by Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha, asked the officials to present the record of all cases registered against Mr Swati in the province.

SHC miffed over registration of ‘identical’ FIRs; rebukes IG for ‘deplorable’ performance of police

It further directed the officials to apprise whether any of the FIRs were “materially different” from the one lodged in Islamabad on the next hearing.

In view of the Supreme Court judgement in the case ‘Mst Sughran Bibi vs The State’, no separate FIRs can be recorded for any new version of the same incident, the court remarked.

Questioning the prosecutor general, the bench asked him to inform the court how so many FIRs were lodged over one incident.

Justice Agha also “deplored” the performance of the police and directed the IG to seek records of all cases from the SHOs concerned and submit the FIRs with English translations to the court.

This led to an argument between the bench and the Sindh police chief.

IG Memon contended that the police were only doing their duty and said he was “disheartened” with the bench’s remark about having “little trust in him”.

Justice Agha remarked if the police chief was not interested in his job, he should step down.

The Sindh IG said he held the judiciary in high esteem and the courts should accord him respect as he was the head of Sindh police and not some SHO.

Later, the prosecutor general extended an apology on behalf of the IG.

During the hearing, Usman Swati filed a fresh petition seeking the quash ing of cases against his father in Sindh.

The bench clubbed the petition — with the two filed before on the matter — for hearing on Dec 15 and issued notices to all parties.

Our understanding of these petitions is that a large number of FIRs have been lodged and according to the petitioner’s lawyer, Mr Swati has been booked in several cases throughout Sindh related to the same case (FIRNo.185/22) registered at Islamabad, the bench remarked.

The defendant argued that Balochistan High Court (BHC) had already quashed all identical cases lodged against Mr Swati in the province and sought a similar direction from the SHC.

Last week, Senator Swati’s son filed two petitions contending that identical cases were lodged against his father over the same incident “in violation of the apex court’s order”.

The PTI leader was arrested by The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Nov 27 over “strongly worded tweets” against senior military officials.

He was later shifted to Quetta after an Islamabad judicial magistrate handed over his custody to the Balochistan police after five cases were registered against him in the province.

After those cases were quashed by the BHC, the senator was taken into custody by Sindh police in connection with two FIRs registered in Qambar Shahdadkot. In addition to the two cases, the PTI leader was also booked in similar cases in Jacobabad, Shikarpur, Larkana and Karachi.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2022