LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court on Monday denied physical remand of PTI activist and fashion designer Khadija Shah to the police in a third case related to the May 9 riots, while the Lahore High Court directed the Lahore capital city police officer (CCPO) to explain her arrest after bail in two cases.

Hearing a contempt of court petition, Justice Ali Baqar Najafi of the LHC showed concern over the manner in which the petitioner (Ms Shah) had been kept in jail despite bail granted to her in the cases.

CCPO Bilal Siddique Kamyana, who appeared on a short notice, told the court that there was a development in police investigation after the arrest of three absconding suspects, including a chef of Ms Shah on Oct 18.

He said the police interrogated the petitioner in the case with the permission of the trial court.

Later, he said the petitioner had been arrested in a case of torching police vehicles near Rahat Bakery Chowk in Lahore Cantonment area in the light of the statements of the arrested suspects. He said all actions were being taken strictly in accordance with law.

ATC denies fashion designer’s physical remand

Inspector Naveed Anjum, the investigating officer (IO), told the court that the chef disclosed that Ms Shah convened several meetings of the PTI workers at her house and planned attacks on the corps commander’s house and other premises in case former prime minister Imran Khan was arrested.

Justice Najafi observed that such ‘developments’ in the investigation would never end if police have decided to keep a suspect behind bars.

Advocate Sameer Khosa, the counsel for Ms Shah, said the IGP had told a division bench that only two cases — Jinnah House and Askari Tower — were registered against the petitioner.

He said the petitioner was behind bars for the last six months, but the police made her arrest in the third case only after the LHC granted her bail in the two cases.

Justice Najafi directed the CCPO to submit a detailed report today (Tuesday) to explain the arrest of the petitioner in the third case.

The judge observed that the petitioner’s counsel should separately challenge physical remand of his client if the trial court granted it to the police.

However, Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Ms Abher Gul Khan rejected the police’s request for physical remand of Ms Shah and sent her to jail on judicial remand.

BAIL: An anti-terrorism court on Monday granted post-arrest bail to eight suspects and denied the same to six others in the Jinnah House attack case.

Those granted the bail include Tanvir Haider, Shahbaz, Waseem Gul, Mukhtar Shah, Farzana Sarwar, Hassan Mujtaba, Saif Ali, Farman Ali, Adnan Haider, Elvin Masih and Qadir Khan.

The court dismissed the bail petitions of Mohsin Hussain, Zainul Abideen, Haider Ali, Abdul Qayyum, Afnan Bhatti and Ali Qureshi.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2023