KARACHI: Mr Altaf Gauhar, Editor, Dawn, was yesterday [March 6] produced before a three-member Tribunal appointed by the Government to try him under the Defence of Pakistan Rules. The Tribunal comprised Mr Ali Mohammad Khoja, Barrister-at-law; Mr Baraqzai, District and Sessions Judge, Dadu; and Mr Maqsood Ahmad Shaikh, District Magistrate, Nawabshah.

The Tribunal met at the People’s District Cou­ncil Hall on the Country Club Road at 12.30 p.m. for a brief session. Mr Altaf Gauhar was given copies of the statements recorded un­­der Section 161 Cr. P.C. by four witnesses — Mr Mumtaz Beg, SDM; Chaudhri Noor Khan, DSP; Mr Mohammad Nawaz Butt, Nau­l­­akha Goods Transport Company; and Mr Mo­­hammad Sad­iq of Swiss Bakery, Defence Hou­sing Society. Mr Gauhar’s counsel was not in­­formed of the Tribunal’s session and were not present when the session started. Mr Gau­har himself submitted a hand-written bail ap­­plication before the Tribunal. — Staff Reporter

[Meanwhile, as reported by news agencies from Islamabad,] the Embassy of Iraq in Pakistan … said that no Pakistani national had so far been expelled from Iraq. The Pakistani nationals, on the contrary, are receiving the best possible treatment... .

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2023