PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has issues notices to the attorney general for Pakistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa advocate general to respond to the petition of a teenager seeking release on bail in a terrorism case registered under the Protection of Pakistan Act in Mardan district.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Roohul Amin Khan observed that the provision of bail was not provided in the PPA and therefore, it was necessary to hear the attorney general and advocate general on the points raised by petitioner Naveed Hussain.

It said the next hearing into the petition would be fixed later.

The petitioner was arrested in a case registered by the Counter Terrorism Department Mardan on Sept 16, 2014 under different sections of the Pakistan Penal Code, Section 16 of the PPA, Section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act, and sections 3 and 4 of Explosive Substance Act.

Teenager seeks release on bail in terrorism case

The case was registered at the complaint of an SHO of Swabi’s Farmulae police station that some militants had attacked a police check post in his area after midnight with heavy weapons.

Noor Alam Khan, lawyer for the petitioner, said his client was a juvenile as he was around 16 and studied in seventh grade at a local school.

He said his client was falsely implicated in the case.

The lawyer said the chief of the check post first named some for the attack and later named more, including his client.

Noor Alam said his client was handed over to the police by his father and brother and a local cleric on Sept 21 following which he went missing.

He said after keeping his client in illegal detention for over a month, the police charged him on Nov 11 under the PPA in the case.

The lawyer said in the case, the police had misused the PPA and arrested an ‘innocent boy.’

He said the special judge of the anti-terrorism court had dismissed his bail petition on the ground that under Section 18 of the PPA, the provision of bail provided in the Code of Criminal Procedure was not applicable to offences registered under the PPA.

The lawyer said in light of a Supreme Court verdict in cases registered under the National Accountability Ordinance 1999, his client had the right to approach the high court for release on bail under Article 199 of the Constitution.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play