PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Monday stopped police and other law-enforcement agencies from arresting former MNA and National Democratic Movement chairman Mohsin Dawar until March 21 over any of the cases registered against him.

A notice was also issued by a bench consisting of Justice Syed Arshid Ali and Justice Wiqar Ahmad to the provincial government seeking its report about the number of cases registered against Mr Dawar.

It held a preliminary hearing into the petition of Mr Dawar for orders to the government to produce details of criminal cases registered against him in the province.

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The petitioner said that he wanted to know about the cases registered against him so that he could approach the relevant courts for relief.

Seeks details of cases against him

Advocates Yousaf Orakzai and Sangeen Khan appeared for the petitioner and said that their client was a lawyer by profession, a former MNA, and a law-abiding citizen.

They said that the petitioner had contested the Feb 8 election in North Waziristan tribal district’s NA-40 constituency.

The lawyers said that the results of that election were manipulated to declare the “loser” the winner, prompting the petitioner and other residents to protest near the office of the returning officer in the Miramshah cantonment area.

They added that the law-enforcement agencies fired at peaceful protesters, critically injuring many, including petitioner Dawar, and that four of the injured died afterwards.

The counsel claimed that instead of registering an FIR against the relevant personnel of law-enforcement agencies, the FIR was registered against the petitioner and other leaders of NDM.

They claimed that the case was registered with mala fide intent on political grounds.

The lawyers said that the petitioner didn’t know how many cases had so far been registered against him and that he could be arrested in any other “concocted” case if he approached the relevant court for relief in the firing case.

They argued that under Article 19-A of the Constitution, it was the right of the petitioner to know about the cases registered against him so that he could approach the relevant court for legal relief.

The counsel said that the petitioner had received serious injuries and was unable to appear before the relevant Bannu court, so police and other law-enforcement agencies should be stopped from apprehending him in any of the cases.

The complainant in the FIR was additional SHO of Miramshah police station, Mohammad Nawaz, who claimed that Mohsin Dawar, Rahim Dawar and other suspects were present near the office of the returning officer in Miramshah, along with 300–400 people, as they were angry at their ‘defeat’ in the election.

He alleged that the suspects asked their supporters to attack security and police personnel, prompting them to fire gunshots at those personnel.

The complainant claimed that the security and police personnel returned fire in ’self-defence.

He added that police learned that some protesters got injured because of firing by ‘miscreants’ and were taken to the hospital.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2024