TAXILA: A case was lodged against two lawyers of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Wednesday for allegedly resorting to physical altercation with the Attock jail staff.

The case was registered with Attock City police station on the complaint of Deputy Jail Superintendent Afzal Ahmed Warraich against members of former prime minister’s legal team, Sher Afzal Khan and Umair Khan Niazi.

The FIR includes provisions of interfering with government business, hurling threats of serious consequences and tearing up a jail official’s uniform.

According to the FIR, the lawyers were accused of making serious threats among other unlawful acts. It said advocate Umair Khan Niazi reached the civil judge’s residence checkpost at 8:40pm to deliver Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) orders to the jail administration.

On receiving information, Head Warder Abrar Khan and Warder Usman Ahmed Khan reached the checkpost to receive the orders. Advocate Sher Afzal Khan also reached the spot.

The FIR said the lawyers were asked to provide the court orders, however, both of them insisted on meeting Imran Khan and getting the power of attorney signed. When they were apprised of the jail lockup regulations, they became violent and started behaving inappropriately, it claimed.

They then attacked Warder Usman who was rescued by the head warder. The FIR reveals that during the altercation, the suspects tore up the uniform of head warder Abrar and threatened him of dire consequences, the FIR alleged. The policemen deputed at the checkpost were witnesses to the entire episode.

Meanwhile, the Punjab Prisons Department on Wednesday shifted 85 detained PTI workers from Attock jail to Adiala jail citing “security reasons”.

Sources said 85 PTI workers, who had been arrested after the May 9 incident, were secretly shifted to Adiala jail because, in the opinion of authorities, the presence of such a large number of workers in the jail, and that, too, at a time when their party chairman was in the same jail could lead to “security issues”.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2023