PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Friday put the provincial anti-corruption establishment (ACE) on notice seeking its response to the petition of the detained former National Assembly speaker, Asad Qaiser, for his transfer from Rawalpindi’s Adiala Prison to any jail in the province.

A bench consisting of Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Wiqar Ahmad fixed Nov 16 for next hearing into Mr Qaiser‘s petition directing the ACE director to file a response to it by then.

Mr Qaiser, a central leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), was arrested by law- enforcement agencies in Islamabad on Nov 3 during a raid on his house in Banigala area in connection with a case registered by the ACE at its police station in Swabi.

Advocate Mohammad Inam Yousafzai appeared for him and said that at the time of the arrest of his client, the Islamabad police had claimed that a case was registered against him by the ACE.

Qaiser requests PHC to order his shifting from Adiala Jail to KP

He added that on Nov 4, the petitioner was produced before a judicial magistrate in Islamabad who sent him to the judicial lock-up leading to his detention in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Prison.

He said that senior civil judge and judicial magistrate Qudratullah, while ordering the sending of the petitioner to prison, directed the ACE to complete legal formalities within a week to take him in custody.

Mr Yousafzai contended that despite the registration of the case in Swabi, the petitioner hadn’t been shifted to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and continued to be detained in Rawalpindi.

He argued that it was illegality on part of the government not to shift the petitioner to a jail in KP.

“When a suspect is arrested in connection with a case registered in another province, he or she has to be shifted to that province, while his or her custody should be obtained by the complainant agency,” he said.

The lawyer said the petitioner could not be kept in Adiala Prison for an indefinite period.

An additional advocate general objected to the petition and contended that it was not in the jurisdiction of the Peshawar High Court as the petitioner was arrested in Islamabad.

He argued that the petition was liable to be dismissed.

However, Mr Yousafzai argued that as the Islamabad police claimed that the petitioner was taken into custody under Section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in connection with an FIR registered in Swabi, the matter fell in the jurisdiction of the PHC.

He added that the continuous detention of the petitioner in Adiala Jail was based on political victimisation and that the case registered by the ACE was concocted.

The FIR was registered by the ACE against the petitioner and four officials of the health department on Nov 2, 2023, under sections 409, 162 and 167 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

It has claimed that the accused had committed irregularities in the purchase of equipment for the Gajju Khan Medical College causing a loss of Rs16.4 million to the exchequer.

The FIR said that the central processing unit of the electromyography machine was missing from the hospital, while “defective” furniture was purchased for it.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2023