ISLAMABAD, Nov 10: The government on Monday produced for the first time a copy of the FIR and the remand orders in the case of Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy President Javed Hashmi before the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court.
The court did not provide the copy of the FIR to Syed Zafar Ali Shah, the counsel of the petitioner, MNA Maimoona Hashmi, but allowed him to examine it and jot down the contents of the report. It took almost two hours for Mr Shah to copy the FIR and the two remand orders by hand.
The court is expected to hear arguments in the habeas corpus case on Thursday.
It will be the fourth hearing of the petition filed under Section 491 of the Criminal Procedure Code, seeking production of Mr Hashmi.
On Monday, when the matter was taken up by Justice Mansoor Ahmad, the counsel for the Islamabad police produced the copy of the FIR and the remand orders. He said that after the submission of the FIR and the relevant record, the habeas corpus petition had become infructuous. Advocate Munir Bhatti asked the court to allow the law to take its due course and dismiss the petition.
Punjab Advocate-General Shabbar Raza Rizvi, appearing on court notice, stated that the production of the detainee was not “essential for the decision in the habeas corpus petition.”
Mr Shah said he had not yet got a copy of the FIR. He asked the court to order the production of the detenu.
He said he would like to argue the petition after examining the contents of the FIR.
The court fixed Nov 13 as next date of hearing.
The petitioner’s counsel told Dawn that the first remand order produced before the court did not carry the name of the judicial officer or the signature of any official concerned, and it was “a carbon copy.”
He said he would demonstrate that the order was bogus and Mr Hashmi was kept in illegal custody.
The FIR, No.326, registered at the secretariat police station, stated that the complainant, Khurshid Ahmad, was a resident of House No.97, Street 96, Sector I-8/4, Islamabad. This was the first time that the whereabouts of the man who reported the matter to the Islamabad police on Oct 29, about nine days after the letter in question was distributed by Mr Hashmi, came to be known to the defence lawyers and the general public.
The complainant stated that he went to witness the proceedings of the National Assembly on Oct 20 and he heard Mr Hashmi speaking at a press conference in the NA cafeteria. In the press conference, Mr Hashmi distributed an unsigned letter titled: “To the national leadership.”
The letter contained material against President Gen Pervez Musharraf, the government and the armed forces and an attempt was made in it to malign them, he alleged.
The complainant said Mr Hashmi tried to create misgivings and hatred against the armed forces and incited them to mutiny.
He said Mr Hashmi read out the letter in which he made misstatements about the Kargil incident. He accused Mr Hashmi of lying by saying that causalities in the Kargil incident were more than those suffered in the 1965 and 1971 wars.
The complainant stated that Mr Hashmi had made a misstatement by saying that Gen Javed Hasan worked under the United States Central Intelligence Agency for four years when he was a major-general in the army.
The complainant stated that the letter, prima facie, appeared to be bogus. The letter pad of the general headquarters also seemed to be bogus as it carried no signature of any official, the complainant said.
The complainant stated that Mr Hashmi had said in his press statement that the fact that he himself distributed the copies of the letter was enough to show that it was authentic.
He alleged that Mr Hashmi and others had forged the letter on the GHQ pad to divide the army and incite its officials.
