July 08, 2008	Tuesday	Rajab 4, 1429

ISLAMABAD, July 7: Former chief cleric of Lal Masjid Maulana Abdul Aziz on Monday moved an appeal before the Supreme Court challenging rejection of his bail in children’s library case by the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

Maulana Aziz has been granted bail in 25 out of a total 27 cases, while in one case he was acquitted, pleaded that he had been behind the bar since his arrest on July 4, 2007 and denial of bail to a person who, according to him, himself was a victim of state terrorism would mean ‘adding salt to the wounds’.

The Supreme Court is also seized with a similar appeal moved by the government seeking cancellation of bail of Maulana Abdul Aziz earlier granted by the IHC in different cases stating these cases were registered under ‘Terrorism Act’.

The Lal Masjid stand-off between the government and the mosque management had begun on January 22, 2007 after Jamia Hafsa students took over the Children’s Library adjacent to the mosque.

The cases in which Maulana Aziz was granted bail earlier by Division Bench of the IHC involved abduction of Chinese nationals, shooting on Rangers, abduction of law enforcement personnel on duty and terrorism against state, etc. However the high court rejected his bail request in the case involving occupation of Children’s Library.

Refusal of the concession of bail in the instant matter is not only harsh, but unprecedented as well, contended the petition filed by Advocate Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui before the apex court.

Citing a case in which it was held by the apex court that courts while deciding bail applications must look into the probability of ultimate conviction, the petition pleaded that in the instant matter there was no probability of conviction of any of the accused person, more particularly the petitioner, for the reasons that property with regard to which instant case was registered had already been demolished by the government after ‘ruthless’ operation in Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa.

The petition recalled that it was prosecution’s own case that Maulana Aziz’s name was brought on record through supplementary statement and that there was no evidence on record that petitioner was ever found in possession or occupation of the library at any stage.

It is also a matter of record that police inserted section 6 and 7 of Anti Terrorist Act (ATA) after more than nine months of the Lal Masjid standoff.

Moreover not a single person from the vicinity, the petition stated, came forward as a complainant or witness showing any sense of insecurity.