March, 15 2005	Tuesday	04 Safar 1426

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ISLAMABAD, March 14: The President of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD), Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, on Monday filed a bail petition in the Supreme Court against his conviction in a mutiny case.

In the petition, Mr Hashmi’s counsel Akram Shaikh prayed the court to release him on bail by suspending the 23-year sentence awarded by a trial court.

Mr Hashmi has challenged the orders of the Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench which had dismissed his bail application in the case.

The petitioner contended that the trial was conducted in-camera at the Adiala Jail during which the prosecution failed to produce concrete evidence against him in accordance with law.

He said the findings recorded by the trial court judge were also based solely on surmises and conjectures rather than any sound legal ground or evidence.

He pleaded his innocence and claimed that he had falsely and maliciously been implicated in the case which was planned and concocted by intelligence agencies. The conviction was also not supported by any evidence, he contended.

The petitioner maintained that many sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), under which he was booked, were non-cognizable and, therefore, could not be registered by the police unless the complainant was the federal government.