ISLAMABAD, Jan 25: The supreme court on Friday adjourned the hearing of a petition filed by Qazi Hussain Ahmad, directing the NWFP government to produce JI leader’s latest medical report and evidence on the basis of which he was detained.

The two-judges bench comprising Justice Sheikh Riaz Ahmad and Justice Mohammad Nawaz Abbasi, directed the advocate-general NWFP to submit a report on the basis of which Qazi Hussain Ahmad was detained.

Justice Sheikh Riaz Ahmad, head of the bench observed, that supreme court in Shorash Kashmiri Case had accepted the freedom of expression.

Advocate Mohammad Akram Sheikh, counsel of Qazi Hussain Ahmad, had argued that criticizing the policies of the government has been accepted universally and it was no longer a crime. He said that my client’s only mistake was that he criticized the government’s policy on Afghanistan.

The counsel said that Qazi Hussain had undergone heart surgery and his coronary heart disease had aggravated after being exposed to massive tear gas shelling in 1999 when Indian Prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee visited Pakistan.

The court also asked the attorney-general to seek instructions from the government on the application of the petitioner, seeking that Qazi Hussain Ahmad should be shifted to Lahore. The attorney-general stated that he was on court’s notice and the response had to be filed by the NWFP government.