LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday issued notices on post-arrest bail petitions of fashion designer Khadija Shah in the cases of attacks on Jinnah House and Askari Tower during May 9 riots.

Advocate Sameer Khosa, the counsel for the petitioner, appeared before the court and advanced his initial arguments.

The counsel said the police arrested the petitioner without any evidence and purely on political grounds.

He said the petitioner was a mother of three children and the youngest one was five-year-old who direly needed mother care.

He said the the petitioner herself also needed serious medical care and could not be kept behind bars for an indefinite period.

He said all the charges against the petitioner were false as she was not involved in any illegal activity or violence.

He asked the court to allow the petitions and release the petitioner on bail.

A two-judge bench headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi issued notices to the police and the prosecution for submission of replies by the next week.

Earlier, the bench overruled an office objection on the bail petitions of Ms Shah and fixed their hearing.

Ms Shah had surrendered to the police on May 23 as she had gone into hiding to avoid arrest in the May 9 cases.

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2023