April 10, 2003	Thursday	Safar 7, 1424

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PESHAWAR, April 9: A two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court here on Wednesday asked the director general health department to constitute a medical board for examining the provincial vice-president of the PML-Q, Arbab Ghulam Haider, convicted for a murder.

Mr Haider was earlier granted a bail by the high court without issuing any notice to the complainant party due to which the Supreme Court recalled his bail and ordered his arrest.

The applicant surrendered about a week ago to the police and was forthwith shifted to a VIP block of Lady Reading Hospital as the prison officials claimed that he has been suffering from a deadly disease.

The criminal appeal of the applicant has been pending before the high court since his conviction by an additional district and sessions judge on July 6, 2002. He was sentenced to life by the trial court. After he surrendered he filed an application for suspension of his sentence and his release on bail under section 426 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Advocate Khwaja Mohammad Khan of Gara appeared for the applicant and contended that his client was suffering from Hepatitis- C. He requested the court to suspend his sentence and release him on bail so that proper medical treatment should be provided to him. He added that his stay in prison was neither in his favour nor in favour of other prisoners.

The bench comprising the chief justice of the court, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan and Justice Shahjehan Khan observed that a medical board would examine him to find out in which stage his disease was.

The applicant was convicted along with his three other relatives for killing Mohammad Ishaq on June 5, 1999, at Bana Mari. Within one month of his conviction a bench of the high court had granted him bail without issuing notice to the complainants.