July 13, 2006	Thursday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 16, 1427

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LAHORE, July 12: A group of lawyers on Tuesday managed to get a magistrate to grant bail to one of their fellow accused in a case of tampering with the book titled ‘Mein aur mera muqaddema’ written by the respected historian Dr Mubarak Ali.

The incident occurred at a time when tPhe Mozang police took Masoodul Hasan Sabri and his son Noorul Hasan Sabri to the court of magistrate Munawwar Hussain for obtaining a remand. The accused had been arrested on a complaint filed against them by the publishing house which had printed the said book.

Led by the other accused Faridul Hasan Sabri and Saoodul Hasan who had obtained a pre-arrest bail, around two dozen men were said to have stormed into the court room of the duty magistrate. Talking to Dawn, a Fiction House spokesman said that the men kicked up a rumpus when they saw their two other accused fellows in handcuffs.

They exchanged hot words with Zahoor Ahmad Khan, the owner of the publishing house, and manhandled him. A lawyer also allegedly slapped two policemen who came to Mr Khan’s rescue.

The men then tried to pressure the magistrate to grant bail to Masood and Noor as well, who had been arrested earlier. The magistrate attempted to remind the lawyers and their friends that he could not grant the requested bail. But the law practitioners and their accomplices told the magistrate to either release the two accused or they would take them away by force.

The helpless magistrate granted bail to Massod but remanded Noor to judicial custody.

Dr Mubarak Ali, who did not go to the court on the advice of friends, told this reporter that he attempted to approach the governor and the IGP as the melee was in progress, but in vain. A DIG, however, was prevailed upon to despatch extra force to control the situation.

Meanwhile, the publishing house owner Zahoor Ahmad Khan said in a statement that he had appeared in the court of magistrate Munawwar Husain in connection with a case involving alleged tampering with the book written by Dr Mubarak Ali.

The author has filed a case against the lawyer Saoodul Hasan Khan, his father and two brothers on charges of graft and tampering with his book. The publishing house owner said a group of men who had accompanied the accused attacked him, and hurled threats of murder at him. “It all happened right inside the magistrate’s room.”

He said the police intervened to rescue him, but none of the attackers was taken into custody.

It is worth mentioning here that dozens of copies of Dr Mubarak Ali’s book in question had been purchased from the market last month, a number of its original pages were taken out and replaced with those containg incriminating material against the author. The accused then allegedly sent the tampered books to dignatries across the country, with malafide intentions toawrds the author.

Dr Mubarak Ali has also accused Saoodul Hasan of extortion, who allegedly demanded money from him in exchange for withdrawal of “false cases” he had filed against the noted historian. The latter says he appeals to the Supreme Court to take notice of his continued harassment and humiliation at the hands of those wielding influence among the legal fraternity.