Advocate Haider Majeed, a PTI lawyer, has been handed over to the military for trial over his alleged involvement in May 9 vandalism at Lahore’s Jinnah House, the Lahore High Court (LHC) was told on Monday.

The development comes days after Barrister Hassaan Niazi, the nephew of PTI chief Imran Khan, was handed over to the military for trial on the same charges.

On August 19, Muhammad Majeed, Haider’s father, filed a petition in the LHC seeking the recovery of his son, wherein he stated Haider was taken into custody along with Niazi late night on August 13.

According to the PTI, Haider is the convener of the Insaf Students Federation’s Punjab wing.

Today, the LHC took up the plea filed by Haider’s father, during which Lahore police submitted a report, signed on August 17, informing the court that the suspect had been handed over to the military.

The report said both Niazi and Haider were arrested from Abbottabad’s Mirpur police station by Sarwar Road police in a terror case.

The report said that two letters were received from a commanding officer of the military, according to which both Niazi and Haider were being handed over to the military for “investigation and inquiry” under under two provisions of the Pakistan Army Act 1952.

The police submitted its report to the LHC through Additional Advocate General Ghulam Sarwar Nihang, following which Justice Sultan Tanveer adjourned the hearing till tomorrow (Tuesday).

In the past, among other cases, Haider was the petitioner in a case against former interior minister Rana Sanaullah and top police officials for the authorities’ alleged torture of lawyers during a PTI rally. Niazi was one of the lawyers representing him.

Earlier this year, he was also part of the legal team in a case filed by PTI leader Asad Umar’s wife seeking her husband’s recovery after he had courted arrest.

The plea

In the petition filed on August 19, Muhammad had named Punjab Inspector General Dr Usman Anwar, Lahore Capital City Police Officer Bilal Siddique Kamyana, the Sarwar Road station house officer (SHO), and the provincial and federal governments as the respondents in the case.

The plea had urged the court to direct the respondents to “immediately produce” his son and release him accordingly.

It further requested that the PTI advocate’s detention be declared “illegal, unlawful and without lawful authority” and that an inquiry be “initiated into the illegal, unlawful and without-law authority actions of the respondents”.

Muhammad recalled that Haider, “a law-abiding citizen and [a] professional member of legal fraternity” had been “abducted illegally”.

It further said the “police gave no reason for the abduction” and “did not present any search warrant, arrest warrant or any grounds of arrest”.