PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday directed the federal and provincial law-enforcement agencies to produce details of the cases registered against newly-elected Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur.

A bench consisting of Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Shakeel Ahmad fixed April 25 for the next hearing into the petition of Mr Gandapur, who sought its orders for law-enforcement agencies, including the Federal Investigation Agency, police, and National Accountability Bureau, to provide details of the cases against him.

During the last hearing on Feb 27, the court provided interim relief to the petitioner by stopping police and other law enforcers from arresting Mr Gandapur in any of the cases until further orders.

Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim observed that the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had voted for the petitioner, and therefore, he was elected the provincial chief minister.

Lawyer says CM will appear before relevant courts after learning about cases

It added that the petitioner was running the province’s affairs, so he should be informed about the cases registered against him.

Advocate Arshad Ali appeared for the petitioner and contended that Mr Gandapur was a law-abiding citizen and was elected the chief minister of the province.

He said scores of cases were registered against his client in different parts of the country, including the Punjab province.

The bench asked him whether the “situation hasn’t changed, now.” He replied that there continued to be problems as he and his client weren’t informed about the exact number of cases registered against the latter, especially in the province of Punjab.

He added that while the petitioner was aware of some cases and got protective bail in them from the high court, there might be several other cases about which he had not been provided any information by the government.

The counsel feared the petitioner would be arrested in a new case.

The bench observed that if he was required in any case in Punjab, he should approach the relevant court to get pre-arrest bail.

The counsel said he would approach the court for relief only after learning about the details of the cases.

The counsel contended that Article 19-A of the Constitution guaranteed people’s access to information, so it was the right of the petitioner to know about the cases registered against him or any inquiry being conducted by any law-enforcement agency against him.

Additional director (legal) of the FIA Abdur Rehman informed the bench that only two inquiries were under way against Mr Gandapur in Dera Ismail Khan district.

A representative of NAB said that presently, there was no investigation pending against the petitioner.

The bench directed them to produce their information in writing.

The Peshawar High Court’s Dera Ismail Khan Bench had on Feb 15 granted transit bail to Mr Gandapur in 26 cases registered against him in several police stations, mostly in Punjab’s Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, and Gujranwala districts.

It had directed him to appear before the relevant courts of law for relief in those cases.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2024