April 13, 2007	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 24, 1428

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KARACHI, April 12: A request for ‘red warrants’ against former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has been made to Interpol in pursuance of a judicial order and it brooks no interference, Deputy Attorney-General Akhter Ali Mahmud submitted before a division bench of the Sindh High Court on Thursday.

The PPP chairperson has challenged the request made by the interior ministry and the Federal Investigation Agency for issuance of ‘red warrants’ against her by Interpol as part of her political victimisation.

As the petition came up before a division bench comprising Chief Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed and Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Advocate Akhtar Husain stated that the main counsel for the petitioner, Farooq H. Naek, was busy before the Supreme Court in Islamabad.

He sought adjournment of hearing.‘Reluctantly’ granting the request because ‘several adjournments have been sought earlier’, the bench fixed April 24 as the next date of hearing.

The comments submitted by the DAG on behalf of the interior ministry and the FIA said the sessions judge of Islamabad had passed two orders in July and September 2006, in pursuance of which Interpol had been requested to issue ‘red warrants’, which authorise arrest of an accused in any state signatory to the Interpol Convention.

The respondents maintained that no writ could be issued against a legal or judicial process.

The petitioner had questioned the legality of the request made by the ministry and its agency without challenging the court order under which it had been made.

The Islamabad court was outside the territorial jurisdiction of the Sindh High Court and an order passed by the sessions court could not be assailed in writ jurisdiction.

The petition, the DAG argued, was not maintainable and merited dismissal with costs.