LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Friday granted interim pre-arrest bail to retired Capt Muhammad Safdar, the son-in-law of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, in a case of attacking a police team outside the office of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) when his wife Maryam Nawaz, the PML-N vice president, came to appear in an inquiry into land allotment.

ATC-I Presiding Judge Arshad Hussain Bhutta restrained the Chuhng police from arresting Mr Safdar till Sept 11 and sought a report on the bail petition.

Earlier in the day, a sessions court dismissed the bail petition of Mr Safdar after the investigating officer told it that Section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 had been added to the FIR.

A state prosecutor argued that after the insertion of the Section 7, the sessions court lacked jurisdiction to hear the bail petition.

The counsel for the petitioner argued that the mala fide of the prosecution was clear from the fact that the investigating officer had added the offence of 7-ATA in the FIR without collecting any further evidence. He pointed out that the officer had not recorded the cross version of the petitioner in the FIR despite a direction issued by a justice of peace.

The counsel further said that at least 58 co-suspects arrested by the police had already been released on bail by a judicial magistrate. He said the rule of consistency, as per the law settled by the apex court, favoured the petitioner.

Additional District & Sessions Judge Shakil Ahmad observed that initially the offence under the 7-ATA was not charged by the prosecution, however, it was added on Aug 28. He noted that after the addition of the section, the sessions court could not confirm the pre-arrest bail earlier granted to the petitioner.

On a complaint of NAB, the police had on Aug 11 had registered the FIR under various sections of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 20 of Maintenance of Public Order.

Several PML-N leaders, including Ms Nawaz, her husband Safdar, MNAs Rana Sanaullah Khan and Javed Latif, and over 300 workers, were booked in the FIR.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2020