PESHAWAR: Former MNA and leader of the Jamaat-i-Islami Sabir Hussain Awan was arrested here after the Peshawar High Court recalled the bail granted to him by a subordinate court last year in a case of the murder of two brothers.

Justice Syed Arshad Ali of a single-member bench accepted the petition of the complainant in the case for the cancellation of the bail granted to Sabir Awan by an additional district and sessions judge.

The former lawmaker was shifted to the Peshawar Central Prison after arrest.

Sabir Awan was charged along with his two brothers, including Fazal Ghani Awan and Shah Hussain Awan, in an FIR registered at the Chamkani police stationon June 30, 2020, under sections 302, 324 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Sabir Awan shifted to Peshawar jail

The complainant in the case was a resident of Tarnab area, Kamran Paracha.

The complainant alleged that he along with his three brothers, including Farhan Paracha, Pervez Paracha and Mohammad Arshad, and a brother-in-law, Israr, were busy with construction work on their plot when the accused, Sabir Awan, along with his two brothers showed up and started firing.

He added that the firing killed his two brothers, Farhan and Pervez, and injured the third one, Mohammad Arshad, while he and his brother-in-law remained unhurt.

Lawyer Shabbir Hussain Gigyani appeared for the complainant and contended that the accused, Sabir Awan, was named in the FIR for ‘effective firing’.

He said that initially, the accused had filed a pre-arrest bail petition, which was turned down by the court due to ‘non-prosecution’ as he had been absconding.

The lawyer said that in Feb last year, the accused was arrested after he had again filed a pre-arrest bail petition, which was turned down by an additional district and session judge.

He argued that a few days after his arrest, the accused was granted regular bail by the additional district and sessions judge on multiple grounds.

Mr Gigyani argued one of the grounds of the accused’s bail was alibi, which was in fact fake as he was shown present at the Al-Markaz-i-Islami of the Jamaat-i-Islami at the time of firing.

He added that being an influential leader of the Jamaat-i-Islami, the so-called plea of alibi was a manufactured one as the witnesses mentioned in it included his personal driver and a watchman of the markaz.

The counsel pointed out that according to a judgement of the Supreme Court, the bail petitions related to the same case should be heard by the judge, who had initially heard it.

He added that initially, the pre-arrest bail plea of accused Sabir Awan and that of his brother was heard by an additional sessions judge but later, his plea was fixed before another judge, who had granted him bail.

The counsel for accused Sabir Awan contended that his client was falsely implicated in the case and that at the time of firing, he was even not present there.

They said their client was granted bail by the subordinate court on multiple grounds after looking into all the aspects of the case.

Published in Dawn, April 2nd, 2022