PESHAWAR/ISLAMABAD: Peshawar High Court on Tuesday granted protective bail to Bushra Bibi, the wife of incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan, till Nov 18 and directed law enforcement agencies not to arrest her till then in any of the cases.

A bench consisting of Justice Shakeel Ahmad and Justice Sahibzada Asadullah directed the respondents including the federal government to provide within a fortnight details of criminal cases, if any, registered against her.

The bench also directed advocates Qazi Mohammad Anwar and Alam Khan Adenzai, representing Bushra Bibi, to assist the court on the question of jurisdiction of the high court to entertain and adjudicate upon the instant petition, on the next date.

The petitioner has sought directives of the court for respondents including federal and Punjab governments and different law enforcement agencies to furnish copies and details of FIRs an inquiries, if any, wherein her arrest was required to them.

Bench seeks details of cases against her

She also requested to restrain the respondents from arresting or harassing her in any manner without due process of law and without prior permission of the high court.

Apart from lawyers for Bushar Bibi, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa advocate general, Shah Faisal Uthmankhel, the assistant attorney general for federation, Barrister Rahat Ali Nahqi, and the additional deputy prosecutor general of National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Mohammad Ali, also appeared in the case.

Advocates Qazi Anwar and Alam Khan Adenzai contended that their client had recently been released from Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, after remaining incarcerated there for many months in fabricated cases. They stated that she was now staying in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

They argued that there was likelihood that more fake cases were registered against the petitioner by federal and Punjab governments, about which she had no knowledge. They contended that the respective governments had not provided any information to her about cases registered against her.

They said that the petitioner wanted to approach relevant courts to face those cases. However, they added that she apprehended her arrest on way to those courts for which she needed protective bail.

During course of hearing Justice Sahibzada Asadullah questioned about the jurisdiction of high court to seek information about cases pending in other provinces. Qazi Anwar said that in almost identical petitions high court had earlier granted relief and sought information of cases through ministry of interior.

Respondents in the petition are federal government through secretary interior, Punjab’s home secretary, inspectors general of police of four provinces and Islamabad, Federal Investigation Agency director general, directors of anti- corruption establishments of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan and coordinator of National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta).

Later in the day, a single-member bench of PHC Chief Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim disposed of another petition of Bushra Bibi, seeking transit bails in cases against her, as the same was withdrawn.

Indictment deferred again

In Islamabad, the special court of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Tuesday once again deferred the indictment of Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi in the case related to retaining expensive Bulgari jewellery set at a throwaway price.

Mr Khan appeared before the court, however, the defence counsel filed an application, seeking exemption from personal attendance for his spouse. During the hearing, FIA prosecutor opposed the exemption and argued that bail did not exempt an accused from appearing in court and noted that Bushra Bibi’s signature was missing from the exemption request.

He urged the court to conduct the trial on a daily basis to expedite proceedings. Despite his objections, the court granted exemption to Bushra Bibi and issued a notice to her to attend the next hearing.

The hearing of the case was adjourned till Nov 2.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2024