PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court on Tuesday extended protective bail to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur to May 23 and disposed of his plea seeking details of cases registered against him by law enforcement agencies (LEAs).

A bench consisting of Justice Sahibzada Asadullah and Justice Salahuddin ordered that LEAs should not arrest Mr Gandapur till May 23. The bench also directed Mr Gandapur to approach relevant courts by May 23, observing that after that date the order would become ineffective.

A deputy attorney general informed the bench that there were a total of 65 cases registered against the petitioner by police in Punjab and Islamabad including 33 cases in the former and 32 in the latter.

Similarly, an additional advocate general told the bench that eight cases were registered in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa against Mr Gandapur.

Extends protective bail to him till May 23

Moreover, a prosecutor of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) said that an inquiry was in process against him regarding his assets and the petitioner was aware about the same.

The court had initially granted protective bail to Mr Gandapur on Oct 22 till Nov 14, 2024, over a petition filed by him seeking directives of the court for federal government for provision of details of cases registered against him by federal and Punjab governments. Subsequently, his bail was extended from time-to-time.

Mr Gandapur didn’t turn up in the case as he had gone to Islamabad.

Petitioner’s lawyer Alam Khan said that the petition was filed for seeking details of cases against Mr Gandapur under Article 19-A of the Constitution. He argued that it was right of every citizen that he should be provided information about the cases against him.

He requested the bench that cases were registered against his client in a large number, therefore, he might be granted protective bail for at least two months. The bench observed that being a chief minister it would allow him 40-day protective bail.

The bench observed that as the relevant information had been provided to him, therefore, there was no need to keep the petition pending.

BAILS: The bench also extended protective bails to several lawmakers and leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) to different dates.

The petitioners whose bails were extended included Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Omer Ayub Khan, MNAs Asad Qaiser, Shandana Gulzar, Shehram Tarakai and Iqbal Afridi, MPAs Syed Qasim Ali Shah, Sohail Afridi, Iftikhar Mishwani and Zahir Shah Toru, former senator Faisal Javed Khan and leaders Mashal Azam and Nadia Khattak.

The bench sought details about the cases registered against them in Islamabad and other provinces.

The lawyers representing the petitioners stated that their clients had been charged in multiple cases after the Nov 24 protests in Islamabad. They stated that the government had not been providing details of cases registered against them.

They contended that the petitioners might be provided details so that they could approach relevant courts to redress their grievances.

Meanwhile, Omer Ayub told journalists on the premises of high court that the fate of KP Mines and Mineral Bill, 2025, would be decided by PTI founder Imran Khan.

He stated that the restrictions placed on meetings with Imran Khan in prison were illegal and unconstitutional. He added that he had not met Imran Khan for the last three months.

He claimed that a speech delivered by PTI provincial president Junaid Akber on the floor of National Assembly against an alleged drone strike in Katlang, Mardan, had been deleted from the record of the assembly by unidentified persons. He said that the hue and cry raised by Pakistan Peoples Party over the canals issue was merely eyewash for hoodwinking people.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2025