PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Monday directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government not to create any hurdles to the appearance of the nephew of former prime minister Imran Khan, Barrister Hassaan Niazi, before a Nowshera court for hearing into his pre-arrest bail petition.

A bench consisting of Justice Shakeel Ahmad and Justice Wiqar Ahmad disposed of a petition filed by Mr Hassaan after the provincial advocate general said only one FIR was registered against the petitioner in the province and that the provincial police didn’t intend to arrest him in any other case.

Senior advocate Qazi Mohammad Anwar appeared for Mr Hassaan and said the petitioner was granted interim pre-arrest bail by a court in Nowshera on April 1 and the court had fixed April 19 for next hearing.

He said the petitioner was focal person of Imran Khan on legal issues and to victimsie him the government had been registering concocted cases against him in different parts of the country including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

AG says just one FIR registered against Imran’s nephew in KP

Mr Anwar said a case was registered against the petitioner in Nowshera over multiple offences, including sedition.

He added that the FIR was registered over a tweet of the petitioner wherein it was mentioned that if anything happened to Imran Khan, then neither “any hafiz nor anyqari” would be safe in the country.

The counsel contended that as his client would be appearing before the court in Nowshera on April 19 but authorities didn’t inform him about the cases registered against him in the province.

He said that the petitioner was a law-abiding citizen and had appeared before the concerned court in Nowshera within 48 hours of getting a transit bail from the Sindh High Court.

Mr Anwar argued that freedom of movement was a fundamental right of his client and the police should not be creating any hurdle in his way to appear before the court on April 19.

He requested the bench that the petitioner should be informed about the cases registered in KP against him so that he could consult his legal team for approaching the relevant court.

Advocate general Aamir Javed and additional advocate general Barrister Yaseen Raza contended that merely on basis of apprehensions, relief could not be granted to a petitioner.

They pointed out that in the present petition the petitioner had even not filed his affidavit and instead of him his counsel had submitted it.

Mr Javed and Mr Raza said the petitioner had not been appearing before the court.

They added that if Mr Hassaan had been facing any threat, he should appear in the court and sought relief.

The AG and additional AG also pointed out that the petitioner had constantly been carrying out a campaign against state institutions on social media.

The bench directed the AG to contact officials concerned and inform the court about the number of cases registered against the petitioner.

Later in the day, the AG informed the bench that he had contacted the provincial police officer and home secretary and told them that except the case in Nowshera. no other FIR had been registered against the petitioner.

He said the petitioner was granted an interim bail by the Nowshera district, so there was no reason for his arrest. Mr Javed added that the petition was premature.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2023