LAHORE: A sessions court on Monday issued a notice to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on a post-arrest bail petition of fashion designer Khadija Shah in the case of posting tweets allegedly to incite people against the army.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Nawaz directed the investigating officer (IO) to produce the case record on Nov 7 (today).

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A counsel for Ms Shah pleaded that the high court had granted bail to the accused in the cases related to May 9 violence registered against her, but the FIA booked her in a new case under the cybercrime law.

He stated that a judicial magistrate denied the agency physical remand of the petitioner and sent her on judicial remand.

The counsel rejected the FIA’s stance, arguing that the petitioner had been behind bars for five months, how could she be tweeting from jail.

He asked the court to allow bail to the petitioner in the FIA case.

The FIA alleged that Ms Shah posted ‘objectionable’ tweets, which were still being re-posted by the social media users. In the tweets on May 9, the agency said, the petitioner incited people against the institution of army.

BAIL: An anti-terrorism court on Monday sought more arguments on a petition of PTI social media activist Sanam Javed, seeking her post-arrest bail in a May 9-related case of torching the PML-N office in Model Town.

Earlier, Advocate Naseeruddin Nayar argued on behalf of the activist that the police arrested his client in the case after she secured bail in two cases registered against her.

He said the arrest of the petitioner in a new case after the bail showed malice and mala fide on the part of police.

He asked the court to grant bail to the petitioner and also order her immediate release from jail.

Judge Arshad Javed adjourned the hearing for today (Tuesday).

The judge also adjourned the bail petitions of two co-suspects, Taj Muhammad and Muhammad Tanvir.

Usman Dar case: The Lahore High Court on Monday summoned police record of a case of fraud and cheating registered against Usman Dar, a former leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.

Rangpura police of Sialkot implicated Mr Dar in the case on the statement of a suspect, Javed Ali, who allegedly secured a government job of a watchman in a middle-class school on the basis of bogus documents.

A deputy district education officer for women lodged the FIR against Ali after an inquiry found his academic credentials bogus.

The police arrested the suspect, who disclosed in the investigation that he had given Rs2 million as bribe to the former PTI leader to secure the job.

Mr Dar approached the high court through a writ petition to quash the case.

Advocate Imran Ranjha argued on behalf of the petitioner that the police falsely implicated his client in a fabricated case merely on a statement without any legal justification and evidence.

He said the action of the police was contrary to Article 10-A of the Constitution, which guarantees a right to fair trial.

The counsel asked the court to quash the FIR against the petitioner.

Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh directed the station house officer concerned to present the record of the case on Tuesday.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2023