PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday sought detailed replies from deputy commissioners of Shangla and Upper Chitral districts to two petitions challenging detention of 22 activists of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance.

A bench consisting of Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Fazal Subhan fixed July 27 for the next hearing of the two petitions filed by the detainees including 16 from Shangla and six from Upper Chitral, with the direction that the respective deputy commissioners should provide details about the allegations against the detainees on the basis of which the impugned detention orders were issued.

The petitioners have requested the court to declare as illegal and unconstitutional the impugned orders issued by the two deputy commissioners.

The Shangla deputy commissioner had issued almost identical orders on July 19 under section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance for the detention of the 16 petitioners from Shangla including Pir Aman and others for a period of 30 days.

Disposes of petition of ex-minister seeking details of cases against him

Similarly, the Upper Chitral DC issued the orders on July 16 under section 3 of the MPO for detaining the six petitioners including Mohammad Haroon and others from the said district.

In each of the impugned orders the DC claimed that that the respective petitioner was involved in activities, which were prejudicial to public safety and maintenance of public order in the area, resulting in law and order situation in the district.

Advocates Alam Khan Adenzai, Shah Faisal Uthmankhel and other lawyers appeared for the petitioners and contended that the petitioners were law abiding citizens and were never involved in any crime.

They contended that the impugned orders were illegal, unlawful and against the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution of Pakistan, hence untenable and liable to be set aside.

EX-MINISTER’S PETITION DISPOSED OF: A bench consisting of Justice Shakeel Ahmad and Justice Shahid Khan disposed of a petition filed by a detained former provincial minister Shakeel Ahmad after the provincial government provided details about cases registered against him.

The bench directed the government that in case any FIR was registered against the petitioner in future he should be provided a copy of it so that he could approach the relevant court.

The bench was informed by an assistant advocate general, Barrister Yaseen Raza, that so far four criminal cases had been registered against the petitioner out of which he was granted bail in three of the cases whereas had presently been imprisoned in the fourth case registered by anti-corruption establishment.

He stated that two detention orders of the petitioner were issued under section 3 of the MPO by different deputy commissioners, of which one of the orders was set aside by the high court whereas the second one was suspended by the court.

The petitioner’s counsel Malik Ajmal Khan contended that his client had been victimized on political grounds as eh was not willing to leave his party PTI.

He contended that his client was re-arrested six times and they apprehend that if he was granted bail in the instant case he would be again re-arrested.

CASES’ DETAILS SOUGHT: A bench of the high court has sought details from the provincial government by July 27 about cases registered against a detained former adviser to the KP chief minister, Abdul Kareem Khan.

The bench consisting of Justice Ijaz Anwar and Justice Fazal Subhan was informed by the petitioner’s counsel that his client had been re-arrested several times and presently he had been detained in a case registered by the anti-corruption establishment.

He requested that they should be informed about the cases registered against the petitioner so that he could approach the relevant court for getting relief.

The bench directed the AAG Barrister Yaseen raza and a deputy attorney general, Ubaidullah Anwar, appearing for federal government, to provide the relevant details to the court.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2023