MULTAN, Jan 5: An under-trial prisoner lodged at the Multan District Jail has yet to get court decree even though he has undergone more jail term he is expected to get under the charges.

Muhammad Aslam, federal investigation officer of Anti-Narcotic Force (ANF), lodged a first information report under section 9C/15 CNSA/1997 on Sep 28, 1998, in the Multan ANF police station.

The FIR stated that the ANF arrested Muhammad Liaqat from Kundian, Gul Muhammad from Essa Khel and Sardar Khan from Shahbaz Khel and seized 20kg of charas each from Muhammad Liaqat and Gul Muhammad and 160kg of charas from Sardar Khan.

According to the FIR, all accused confessed to drug smuggling.

Hayat Khan, the brother of accused Sardar Khan, submitted a petition in the Lahore High Court, Multan bench, on Oct 7, 1998, claiming that the ANF implicated his brother and others at the behest of his cousin, Maj Azmatullah Khan Niazi.

He asked for a judicial inquiry and release of his brother and Muhammad Liaqat from illegal confinement.

On Oct 23, 1998, the court ordered a judicial inquiry and directed the inquiry officer to submit the report in 15 days.

Yahya Kulachi, judicial magistrate and inquiry officer, reported the ANF falsely involved the accused in the case.

He also motioned the disability of Gul Muhammad who had two fingers in one hand while the other hand is half cut.

After the submission of the report, the court ordered the release of Sardar Khan and Liaqat on bail on Nov 13, 1998.

Prince Rehan Iftikhar, Human Rights Lawyers Group general secretary, met the third accused during his visit to the jail and learnt about his ordeal in early 2006.

On June 20, 2006, Prince Rehan submitted the bail application of the accused in the court of Abdul Nasir, special ANF judge.

He said the rule of consistency applied to the accused because his co-accused had been granted bail and their cases had been submitted in the court of special ANF judge on Nov 20, 1998.

He said the trail of Gul was being delayed because of 109 hearings in eight year, witnesses were absent from the court 95 times and on other occasions the court adjourned the case on the request of the ANF special prosecutor. Police did not produce the accused from the jail six times while wetness twice slipped away from the court.

Prince Rehan mentioned that the court had already blamed the prosecution for the delay and wrote in its order on Nov 10, 2004, that the remaining witnesses had not turned up and disposal of the case was being delayed on account of Non-appearance of the witnesses.

On June 26, 2006, the ANF special judge dismissed the bail application of the accused.

Later post-arrest bail was submitted in the LHC on Oct 14, 2006. On Nov 30, a division bench of the LHC ordered the trail court to complete the statement of witnesses before Nov 23.

On Nov 23, the special prosecutor told the court the trail court had completed the evidence but counsel told the court that special prosecutor also examined one witness.

The court left the case without giving any decision while Gul Muhammad is still behind the bar.