The counsel appointed by the court for lawyer and rights activist Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband, Advocate Hadi Ali Chattha, in a case pertaining to controversial social media posts refused to cross-examine the prosecution’s witnesses on Tuesday, saying that he could not “ask questions dictated” to him.

He also alleged that he was not given enough time to prepare for the case, which was registered by the National Cybercrime Investigation Agency (NCCIA).

Mazari and Chattha have been accused of attempting to incite divisions on linguistic grounds through social media posts and of creating the impression that the armed forces were engaged in terrorism within the country in the case.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Mohammed Afzal Majoka resumed proceedings in the case in Islamabad today, where court-appointed defence counsel Advocate Shakeel Jatt alleged he was approached at around 4pm yesterday to represent Imaan and Chattha.

He said that he had not been provided the case file to prepare in time.

Moreover, he said that he had “received 15 questions with the instructions that he should ask them during today’s cross-examination”, without giving any specific details.

Addressing Judge Majoka, he said he was told, “You have to do this tomorrow.”

The lawyer said he could not argue the case under such circumstances.

“I am in favour of a fair trial. I cannot ask questions that are dictated [to me]. My conscience does not allow this,” he said, stressing that every accused person had the right to a fair and impartial trial under the Constitution.

Advocate Jatt sought adequate time from the court to prepare before cross-examining witnesses. He said that without properly studying the case file, he would not be able to fulfil his professional responsibilities.

The judge accepted his request for more time and adjourned the hearing till November 27 (Thursday).

Mazari had previously alleged that the court had “forcibly appointed [a] state defence counsel” for her and Chattha.

Mazari and Chattha were indicted in the case on October 30, a day after the latter was arrested outside the courtroom over non-appearance. Mazari said that there was video evidence of his presence both “inside and outside the courtroom”.

Speaking to reporters after his release, Chattha had maintained that he had appeared in court five minutes ahead of time for the proceedings on October 29, but the judge had issued an arrest warrant “to his face”.