KARACHI: An antiterrorism court on Saturday granted pre-arrest bail to 47 associates of disgruntled Pakistan Peoples Party leader Dr Zulfikar Mirza in three cases till May 19.

Dr Mirza along with dozens of his aides and supporters has been booked in cases pertaining to alleged storming of a police station in Badin on May 3, abusing of the police officials, forcibly shutting down of the markets in the district and trying to kill shopkeepers.

The suspects, accompanied by Dr Mirza, appeared in court and moved their pre-arrest bail applications contending that the cases were politically motivated.

Judge Bashir Ahmed Khoso of the ATC-I granted them interim pre-arrest bail till May 19 against a surety bond of Rs100,000 for each suspect in each case.

The court also issued a notice to the special public prosecutors, called police papers and directed the applicants to join the investigation.

Dr Mirza has already been granted interim pre-arrest bail in the cases in question till May 19.

Six other suspects are in police custody on physical remand till May 22.

According to the prosecution, two cases were registered against the former home minister and his aides on complaints of two traders, Imtiaz Ali and Haji Taj Muhammad. The complainants alleged in the FIRs that the suspects tried to kill them, forced them to shut their business, extended threats and took away Rs3.7 million and Rs3m from their shops.

Another case was registered against Dr Mirza and others on a complaint of Badin’s additional SHO Wali Mohammad Chand for allegedly storming the police station to get a case registered against PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur and others.

Dr Mirza had allegedly argued with the police, snatched the mobile phone of a police officer and flung it to the ground when the latter refused to register the FIR and ransacked the police station, it added.

The SHC had transferred the cases from the Hyderabad ATC to an ATC in Karachi after the trial judge expressed his inability to proceed with the cases on the grounds that Dr Mirza’s late father was his senior in the profession when he was a lawyer.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2015

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