LAHORE, Sept 5: Justice Khwaja Muhammad Sharif of the Lahore High Court on Monday allowed Ghulam Raza Naqvi, a leader of the banned Tehrik Nifaz-i-Fiqh-i-Jafria, to be released on bail five years after he was arrested and lodged in jail. The TNFJ leader was the member of a group which tried to get freed from Shadman in June 2000 five people arrested, facing terrorist charges, from police custody.

The court ordered the bail on the ground that the police could not establish charges against Naqvi in five years. A Punjab government law officer opposed the bail plea on the ground that he was involved in a sectarian offence which was being tried by an anti-terrorism court.