PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court on Thursday extended protective bail to Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur till December 17 with the direction to federal government to provide details of criminal cases registered against him.

A bench consisting of PHC Chief Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Sahibzada Asadullah directed that the law enforcement agencies should not arrest Mr Gandapur in any of the cases against him till next date.

The court had earlier granted protective bail to Mr Gandapur on Oct 22 till Nov 14 over a petition filed by him, seeking directives of the court for the federal government for provision of cases’ details registered against him by the federal and Punjab governments.

Advocate Alam Khan Adenzai appeared for Mr Gandapur whereas the additional attorney general, Sanaullah Khan, and the additional advocate general, Inamullah Yousafzai, appeared for the federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, respectively.

Mr Adenzai informed the bench that the petition was filed for seeking details of cases against Mr Gandapur under Article 19-A of the Constitution. However, he stated that so far the federal government had not provided the said details. He said that the chief minister had to go to Islamabad to attend an important official meeting.

Bench directs federal govt to provide details of cases registered against him

He argued that it was right of every citizen that he should be provided information about the cases against him.

AAG Sanaullah informed the bench that he had contacted federal interior ministry and had made it clear to it that the order of the high court should be strictly followed and the required details should be provided to Mr Gandapur. He sought three weeks’ time for submitting the required report.

Justice Asadullah observed that the petitioner was chief minister of the province and had to perform many other important tasks due to which he couldn’t be in a position to visit the court daily.

Mr Sanaullah said that they had sent two letters to federal and Punjab governments, asking them to provide the required information. He added that they needed some time for submitting reply of the federal government.

The bench allowed him time till Dec 17, the next date of hearing, for submitting the details.

TALKS: Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur told media persons that they would chalk out foolproof strategy for the Nov 24 protest for which the call was given by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf founder Imran Khan.

However, he said that he couldn’t disclose it to media what strategy they would adopt.

To a query, he said that sealing Islamabad for fizzling out PTI protest would be an injustice as the party had been exercising its right to stage peaceful protest.

“The federal government has repeatedly been blocking all the highways and roads in and leading to Islamabad. They carry out brutal tear gas shelling and baton charge peaceful protesters and even use rubber bullets against protesters,” he said, adding that even trenches were dug there, which was wrong.

“This is a democratic country and the Constitution of Pakistan guarantees our right to protest. Creating hurdles to peaceful protest is illegal,” said Mr Gandapur. He said that they were now fully trained to tackle the tactics of the federal government.

About the decision of the provincial government to register an FIR against Islamabad’s inspector general of police, he declined to comment, saying that the matter had now been sub judice before the court.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2024