LAHORE: The Punjab government on Saturday moved the Lahore High Court against pre-arrest bail granted to Advocate Hassaan Niazi, nephew of Prime Minister Imran Khan, and seven other lawyers by the trial court in Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) attack case.

“The learned trial court has granted bail to the accused persons in a hasty manner without applying its judicial mind,” said the government’s appeal filed through prosecutor general of Punjab.

The other accused persons include Ali Javed, Naeem Qamar, Abdul Majid, Syed Zain Abbas, Usama Maooz Malik, Abid Hussain and Muzamil Hussain.

The appeal argued that the accused were involved in attacking the PIC, torched a police van and also attacked policemen.

It said during the incident death of some of the patients at the hospital occurred because of removal of their oxygen masks by the accused persons.

It said the accused were involved in causing grievous damage to the hospital’s property as well as expensive medical equipment.

It argued that the trial court while granting bail to the accused was bound to see tentative assessment, but it deeply appreciated the facts and evidence, which prejudiced the case of the prosecution.

It said the accused were desperate and were not entitled to lenient view as taken by the trial court while granting bail to them. The government asked the LHC to set aside the bail granting order of the trial court for being against the law and facts of the case.

Shadman police had lodged two FIRs against more than 250 lawyers after they stormed the PIC, damaged public property and manhandled government employees.

The police made several attempts to arrest Advocate Niazi after a video showing him actively participating in the attack went viral on mainstream and social media. However, the police remained unsuccessful in arresting him as he went into hiding.

On Dec 20 last, Mr Niazi made a surprising appearance before an anti-terrorism court along with his father Hafeezullah Khan Niazi, a political analyst and counsel and secured pre-arrest bail.

All lawyers arrested by the police in the PIC attack case were later released on bail.

A committee comprising senior lawyers and doctors reached reconciliation. However, it decided that cases pending before courts would be processed as per law.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2020