LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Monday remanded three suspects in police custody over their involvement in the harassment of a woman in Ichhra Bazaar for wearing a shirt with Arabic print.

The Ichhra police presented the suspects — Muhammad Nadeem, Adil Sarwar and Altimash Saqlain — before the court and sought their 14-day physical remand.

The investigating officer told the court that the suspects had harassed the woman and incited people to kill her. He said the custody of the suspects was required to complete the investigation and identify their accomplices.

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Judge Arshad Javed allowed three-day physical remand of the suspects and directed the police to produce them again on March 20.

The police had registered the FIR a week after the incident wherein dozens of religiously charged people had accused a woman of blasphemy in Ichhra Bazaar as she was wearing a shirt having Arabic calligraphy print. The mob threatened to kill the woman. However, a police team, led by ASP Sheharbano Naqvi, had rescued the woman and shifted her to a police station.

REMAND: A judicial magistrate sent a suspect on remand over his alleged involvement in the murder of Ameer Balaj Tipu, the son of the late Arif Ameer alias Tipu Truckanwala.

The Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) produced the suspect, Ahsan Shah, before the court.

Magistrate Sadaf Batool granted physical remand of the suspect to the police for five days with a direction to present him again on March 23.

Shah, who is believed to be a close friend of Balaj, allegedly provided information to prime suspects, including Teefi Butt, about Balaj’s presence at a wedding party in Chuhng where he was murdered by a hitman, Muzaffar Hussain, on Feb 19.

The alleged killer was also killed on the spot by the gunmen of Balaj.

YASMIN: PTI-Punjab President Dr Yasmin Rashid on Monday said the “season” of May 9-like arrests has begun again.

Talking to reporters during her appearance in the anti-terrorism court, she said the PTI workers were being arrested nine months after the events of May 9. “What are they (the government) afraid of?” she asked.

She alleged that the PDM parties formed the government by rigging elections, and baseless terrorism cases were being filed against the PTI workers.

She said PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, PML-N and Maulana Fazlur Rehman staged marches during the PTI government, but no one was arrested, adding that peaceful protest was the right of all political parties. She said the chief election commissioner should be punished for “stealing the PTI’s mandate”.

She said Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz spent a few months in jail, while PTI’s women were behind the bars for 11 months “without any trial or conviction”.

OMAR SARFRAZ: Former governor Omar Sarfraz Cheema has said his both arms had been frozen for the past five months, but the government was denying him medical checkup despite court order.

Cheema said he contracted a disease of gallbladder after eating substandard food in jail.

He said the court had issued orders for his surgery six months ago, but no action had been taken in this regard so far.

Earlier, the ATC adjourned the hearing of different cases against the PTI leaders and workers till April 1.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2024