PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Friday granted protective bailto four MNAs of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, including Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub Khan, in cases registered against them after their recent street protests in Islamabad.

The bail for Omar Ayub, Asad Qaiser, Zain Qureshi, and Faisal Amin Khan will be valid until Nov 8.

Two high court benches heard multiple petitions filed by the four PTI MNAs.

Justice Sahibzada Asadullah of a single-member bench granted transit bail to the petitioners and directed them to approach the relevant courts on or before Nov 8.

Advocates Alam Khan Adenzai and Arshad Ahmad appeared for the petitioners and said that their clients had been named in concocted cases in Hassanabdal area after the recent PTI protests in Islamabad.

PHC asks them to approach relevant courts by Nov 8 for relief in protest cases

They contended that the petitioners intended to approach the relevant courts but they feared arrest on their way to the courts.

The bench, while referring to the Faisal Amin case, observed that the lawmaker was granted protective bail but couldn’t appear before the relevant court, so he had again been seeking bail.

It observed that if he failed to approach the relevant court, this time around, he won’t be given protective bail for the third time.

Mr Omar informed the bench that he had earlier appeared in the cases against him after he was granted bail by the court.

He added that fresh cases had been registered against the PTI leaders forcing them to approach the high court again.

Similarly, another bench consisting of Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Wiqar Ahmad granted protective bail to Umar Ayub, Asad Qaiser and Zain Qureshi, directing law-enforcement agencies in Islamabad and Punjab not to arrest them in any cases registered against them.

Additional attorney general Sanaullah Khan opposed their pleas, insisting that the respondents in their petitions belonged to the Punjab province, which didn’t fall in the jurisdiction of the high court.

The counsel for petitioners said that while the petitioners were aware about some of the cases against them, they had not been provided information by the Punjab and federal governments about other cases.

They contended that under Article 19 of the Constitution it was their right to be informed about the cases registered against them by the law enforcing agencies.

Meanwhile, Mr Ayub told reporters outside the court that a crackdown had been launched on members of the assembly in the Punjab province, with their houses being raided and families harassed.

He alleged that PTI’s founder Imran Khan had been kept in a cell and not permitted to come out of it and had also not been allowed to meet anyone including his sister.

He held interior minister Mohsin Naqvi responsible for the killing of people in the Pashtun National Jirga in Khyber district and demanded that justice should be provided to the families of the deceased persons.

On the occasion, Mr Qaiser said that the federal government was trying to pass the constitutional amendments at any cost.

He said that PTI MNAs not only from Punjab but also from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been pressured to support the government in that move.

The PTI leader alleged that millions of rupees had been offered to lawmakers to vote for the controversial constitutional amendments.

He wondered how the Constitution could be amended by force.

MNA Zain Qureshi said that legislation could only be made by the government if it had the required number of votes in parliament.

He alleged that a day ago, hundreds of PTI workers had been arrested in Multan.

Mr Qureshi said that demands of Khyber Jirga were just, so authorities should hear and address them.

He said that PTI founder Imran Khan had not been treated well in the prison, while his detained father, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, was also unwell but was denied proper care.

The PTI lawmaker demanded proper medical treatment of his father in prison.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2024