• MPA sent on judicial remand in Zilleh Shah murder case
• Elahi appears before court in illegal appointments case

LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court on Wednesday remanded PTI-Lahore chapter secretary general Awais Younas in a case of attacking police outside Zaman Park residence of former premier Imran Khan and sent its MPA Imtiaz Sheikh on judicial remand in the Zilleh Shah murder.

Racecourse police presented Younas be­­f­o­­re the court to seek his first physical rem­and. The investigating officer told the court that the identification parade of the suspect had been completed in jail and he had been recognised by prosecution witnesses.

He asked the court to allow a 20-day physical remand of Younas for investigation.

A PTI lawyer opposed the remand request and asked the court to discharge the suspect in the case. He said the police had arrested the PTI leader in a year-old case with mala fide intention only to victimise him politically.

However, judge Irfan Haider granted the physical remand of the PTI leader for 10 days with a direction to the police to produce him again on Sept 14.

In this case, the PTI leaders and workers are accused of attacking police with petrol bombs and clubs when a NAB team reached Zaman Park to arrest former prime minister Imran Khan in a corruption case in 2023.

Separately, the police also presented MPA Sheikh before the ATC on expiry of his physical remand in the Zilleh Shah murder case.

The investigating officer stated that further custody of the suspect was not required. He asked the court to send the suspect to jail on judicial remand.

The judge allowed the police request, sending the PTI MPA to judicial lockup for 14 days and directed the IO to submit an investigation report before the next hearing.

The police had registered a case against a number of PTI leaders and workers on charges of hiding and tampering with the evidence relating to the death of party worker Ali Bilal alias Zille Shah in a road accident.

The PTI alleged that the worker was killed by police in custody.

Detention

The Punjab government on Wednesday told the Lahore High Court that PTI-Gujrat chapter President Saleem Sarwar Jaura had been released following expiry of his detention under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance.

An assistant advocate general asked the court to dispose of a petition challenging the detention of the PTI leader.

However, a counsel for the petitioner, the wife of Jaura, argued that the law of preventive detention had also been assailed in the petition.

He stated that the government could not detain a citizen without any valid reason.

At this, Justice Amjad Rafiq issued notices to the attorney general for Pakistan and the advocate general of Punjab for their assistance in the matter. The judge adjourned the hearing till Oct 28.

Petitioner Umm-i-Rubab had filed a habeas corpus petition pleading that deputy commissioner Gujrat issued a detention order of her husband on Aug 21 under the garb of section 3 of the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, 1960.

She alleged that the detention order was issued only to prevent the PTI leader from participating in a public rally scheduled for Aug 22 in Islamabad, which was later postponed.

She asked the court to set aside the detention of her husband as it was ‘made on political grounds’.

Illegal appointments

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) President Parvez Elahi on Wednesday appeared before a special court of anti-corruption for his indictment in a case of illegal appointments in the Punjab Assembly.

However, the case was adjourned till Sept 18 without any progress due to the transfer of the presiding judge.

The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) registered the FIR alleging that illegal appointments for BS-17 vacancies were made in the assembly when Elahi was the chief minister and co-suspect Muhammad Khan Bhatti was his principal secretary.

The prosecution said favourite candidates were appointed to the posts even though they failed in the written examination. The appointed candidates had also been nominated as suspects in the case.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2024