October 31, 2003	Friday	Ramazan 4, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 30: A judicial magistrate and civil judge on Thursday issued a five-day physical remand order for PML-N acting president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, Interior Minister Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat told Dawn.

The minister said Mr Hashmi, who is also president of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy, was produced before the court of Judicial Magistrate Aslam Gondal on the premises of the Islamabad District Court.

However, journalists, who remained on the court premises since 8am till late in the night, did not see Mr Hashmi being escorted to any court.

The press was informed by City Magistrate Farasat Ali Khan and the Margalla police SHO at around 8pm that the PML-N leader had been produced before the court and his remand had been issued.

In reply to a question about further arrests in the mutiny case registered against Mr Hashmi, the interior minister said: “An inquiry would be initiated and if anybody else is involved in the mutiny, he would face the music too”.

Most of the PML-N leaders visited the district courts with several party activists. They were chanting slogans against the government and termed Mr Hashmi’s arrest illegal. They included PML-N chairman Raja Zafarul Haq, ARD general secretary Zafar Iqbal Jhagra, ARD information secretary Zafar Ali Shah, PML-N chief coordinator Ahsan Iqbal, former National Assembly speaker Iqbal Jaffar and Khwaja Saad Rafiq.

Speaking on the occasion, advocate Zafar Ali Shah said the PML-N would file a habeas corpus plea with the Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi Bench on Friday against Mr Hashmi’s detention. He said the government had not informed any of Mr Hashmi’s family members and party leaders about his whereabouts.

“We were waiting for Mr Hashmi here since morning but he was not produced by the police till late night. However, representatives of the police and the ICT (Islamabad Capital Territory) administration told us in the night that Mr Hashmi had been produced before a judicial magistrate and his remand had been issued,” the advocate said.

“This is ridiculous that the remand has been issued despite the fact he (Mr Hashmi) was not produced before the court. Under Section 61 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the police were bound to produce the accused before the relevant court within 24 hours of his arrest,” he said.

Describing the charges of mutiny as baseless, Mr Shah said three petitions would be filed before the LHC for getting a copy of the FIR registered against Mr Hashmi, for his medical examination and his meeting with his lawyers.

PARTY LEADERS’ VIEWS: PML-N chairman Raja Zafarul Haq said the government’s action would be remembered as a black chapter in the political history of the country.

He said the combined opposition would meet on Friday morning to chalk out the strategy to counter the government’s action. The PML-N’s executive committee would also meet after the Friday prayers to decide the future line of action, he added.

MNA Memona Hashmi, daughter of the detained leader, said her father had undergone heart surgery two months ago and he needed medicine and complete medical care. She said she had met National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain and requested him to issue production orders for Mr Hashmi.

She said none of her family members was allowed to meet her father.

Ms Memona Hashmi said President Gen Pervez Musharraf had set a bad precedence and he, too, should wait for such circumstances.

Former NA speaker Iqbal Jaffar said that under section 90 of the rules of business the NA speaker could issue orders for the production of Mr Hashmi during the ongoing session of the lower house.

PML-N chief coordinator Ahsan Iqbal said according to the National Assembly’s rules of business, prior permission of the speaker was must to arrest any parliamentarian.

Khwaja Saad Rafiq said the PML-N would kick off a country-wide campaign against the arrest of the acting president.

Siddiqul Farooq said a meeting of PML-N’s parliamentarians and office-bearers had decided to constitute a lawyers’ team to fight the mutiny case. The meeting condemned Mr Hashmi’s arrest and observed the action showed that Gen Musharraf wanted to prolong his personal rule “after destroying the Constitution and subjugating the democratic forces”.

The PML-N demanded registration of cases under Article 6 against Gen Musharraf and his team for violating the Constitution and maligning the army.

The meeting observed that interference of army in political matters was “bringing a bad name to the institution and causing hatred among the masses against the army”. The participants said if things continued in the same way then its results would be “disastrous”.