GUJAR KHAN / ISLAMABAD: Aleema Khan and Uzma Khan, sisters of PTI founding chairman Imran Khan, were shifted to the District Jail Jhelum from Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail on Saturday after an anti-terrorism court rejected a police request seeking extension in their physical remand and ordered they be shifted to jail on judicial remand.
The two were arrested during a PTI protest on D-Chowk in Islamabad last week.
Foolproof security arrangements have been made in Jhelum, police sources confirmed. They also claimed that the number of prisoners to be shifted to the Jhelum jail is 500, adding that they were being shifted in small groups.
Attempts to contact Jail Superintendent Syed Hassan Mujtaba Shah for comment remained unsuccessful.
ATC expresses dissatisfaction with prosecution’s arguments
Earlier, the ATC in Rawalpindi while rejecting the police request for extending the physical remand issued notices regarding the two suspects’ bail applications.
Ms Aleema and Ms Uzma were produced before the court amid tight security, as legal representatives for both sides presented their arguments.
Defence counsel Niazullah Khan Niazi argued that police had no grounds for further physical remand.
Prosecutor Raja Naveed earlier pressed for further remand, arguing that police needed additional time to recover “critical evidence”, including mobile phones and other materials.
Another defence counsel, Usman Riaz Gill, said there are specific legal procedures for seeking remand for women which had not been followed properly.
He requested the court to play the footage of his clients during the protest, arguing that it would demonstrate the illegality of police actions.
Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra, however, rejected the request, saying USB should be examined by the police investigators instead.
The judge expressed dissatisfaction with the prosecution’s explanations, pointing out that police should have “documented every development” in the case.
The court issued notices on the bail applications of the suspects, with the next hearing scheduled for Oct 19.
Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2024
