RAWALPINDI, Sept 28: The Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench here on Friday ordered a station house officer (SHO) not to raid the house of a local leader of the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI).

Judge Justice Syed Sajjad Hussain Shah summoned the Cantonment police SHO Ejaz Shah and directed him not to harass Hafiz Sajjad Qamar, a JI leader and the principal of a private college.

The petitioner through his counsel, Sardar Ghazanfar advocate, pleaded that the police had been raiding his house and harassing the inhabitants, including female members of his family.

According to Mr Shah, the police was trying to arrest him as he belonged to an opposition political party. During the recent crackdown on opposition activists in the twin cities, the Cantonment police repeatedly came to his house to detain him but failed.

Making the city police officer (CPO) Rawalpindi and the Cantonment police SHO respondents, the JI leader prayed to the court that the police should be directed not to trespass on his residence and not to harass the family.

Meanwhile, the LHC sought record from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on October 9 in a case of three men, who allegedly swindled money out of 58 Chinese Muslims on the pretext of sending them to Saudi Arabia for pilgrimage. The three men — National Peace Council Chairman Allama Ayaz Zaheer Hashmi, AJK Muslim League Ulema and Mashaikh Wing Chairman Sahibzada Naeemur Rehman Naeemi and Mohammad Shakoor — have moved bail application in the high court after the district courts rejected their pleas.

The three accused allegedly obtained some $20,000 from the Chinese Muslims to send them on pilgrimage but they disappeared in Karachi early in 2006, leaving the foreigners in the lurch.

After facing lots of hardships the Chinese came to Rawalpindi and protested against the fraudsters. Later, the accused were arrested and the Chinese were sent to Saudi Arabia through funds raised by lawyers.