PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court has rejected Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government petitions for cancellation of bail granted to three workers of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in cases pertaining to May 9 violent protests in two cantonments in Dir Lower.

A single-member bench of Justice Mohammad Naeem Anwar turned down two petitions, which were filed by the caretaker provincial government for recalling bails granted to the three suspects.

In one of the petitions, the government had requested for cancellation of bails granted to Amir Afzal and Usman Khan by an anti-terrorism court on November 8, 2023, in a case wherein they along with hundreds of other PTI workers were charged with attacking and vandalising Chakdara Cantonment.

In the other petition, the government had requested to recall the bail granted to Ikhlaq Ahmad by an ATC on November 1, 2023, in a May 9 violent protest in Balambat Cantonment in Dir Lower.

Petitions were filed by caretaker govt

Apart from several other offences, the three suspects have also been charged for sedition.

The petition against Ikhlaq was dismissed as the assistant advocate general, Naeem Khan, didn’t press it. He pointed out that earlier 11 bail cancellation applications were filed before the high court, which were dismissed on December 4, 2023.

He stated that he had gone through that judgment and record of the present case, therefore, he would not press the case.

In the other case, the bench observed that admittedly names of the two respondents didn’t reflect in the FIR rather they were nominated in the case at a belated stage.

“Neither their independent role has been specified nor during the course of arguments any incriminating recovery has been pointed out on the basis of which liberty of the accused could be curtailed,” observed the bench.

“Not only registration of the FIR under certain offences without written complaint on behalf of the competent authority in violation of the relevant provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1908, is a matter for resolution by learned trial court but the grounds for cancellation of the respondents’ bail in the present case are also not available before this court,” the bench further observed.

The bench also pointed out that an additional advocate general appearing for the government candidly stated that the matter of cancellation of bail of co-accused persons of the present respondents had already been decided by the high court on December 4, 2023, therefore, the instant petition would not serve any person.

The FIR in the instant case was registered at Chakdara police station wherein SHO Mujeebullah Khan was the complainant.

The complainant had stated that a protest rally was arranged by PTI in the wake of arrest of party’s chairman Imran Khan. He claimed that the rally included around 3,500 to 4,000 protesters.

He alleged that the protesters attacked the staff deputed at the entrance of Chakdara Cantonment, put on fire several vehicles and buildings and also broke into the ammunition store and looted different weapons and ammunition in large quantity.

While granting bail to the two respondents, the ATC had observed that tentative assessment of the record available on file revealed that general role had been attributed to any of the accused and no specific role had been attributed to them and as such their involvement in the occurrence became doubtful.

The caretaker government had claimed that the orders of ATC were against the law, facts and available evidence hence liable to be set aside.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2024