PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday disposed of a petition after the provincial government provided details about cases registered against two former federal ministers of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Senator Azam Swati and Murad Saeed.

A bench consisting of Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Sahibzada Asadullah observed that as the required information had been provided, therefore, the petition was disposed of.

The petition was filed by provincial convener of Insaf Lawyers Forum Qazi Mohammad Anwar requesting the court to seek details from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and its law enforcement agencies about the cases registered against Azam Swati and Murad Saeed in the province.

Additional advocate general Danyal Asad Chamkani informed the bench that there was no FIR registered against Azam Swati in this province.

One FIR registered against Murad Saeed in Swat, none against Azam Swati, AAG tells court

About Murad Saeed, he stated that there was a single FIR registered against him in Swat in connection with the May 9 protests there. He added that there was no inquiry pending against him in any of the departments.

The petitioner appeared along with advocate Mashal Yousafzai and stated that the two leaders had tried their level best to get information regarding any FIR or any order under the preventive detention laws related to them but the respondents including the provincial government and police department refused to provide any information.

He contended that by not providing any information about the reason of conducting raids on the houses and offices of the two leaders, the respondents had been acting in an illegal manner.

He said both of them were respectable and law abiding citizens and were ready to surrender before the high court but the respondents were not providing any requisite information of any case or any preventive detention order to them.

He claimed that the police had been conducting illegal raids and had been harassing the two PTI leaders and their family members.

He stated that they were willing to surrender before the high court provided they had been told about the cases pending against them.

Meanwhile, another bench consisting of Justice Abdul Shakoor and Justice Syed Arshad Ali sought details from the provincial government about the cases pending against two former MPAs of PTI, Khaliqur Rehman Khattak and Idrees Khattak.

The bench fixed Oct 19 for next hearing and also extended interim pre-arrest bail granted to them earlier till next date.

Advocate Syed Sikander Hayat Shah appeared for the petitioners and stated that they had received information that the two petitioners had been charged in an FIR registered by the anti-corruption establishment and they had also got pre-arrest bail in that case.

He requested the court that they may be provided information about any other case or any inquiry against them.

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2023