KARACHI, June 17: A division bench of the Sindh High Court adjourned on Tuesday the hearing of a federal government petition against the exoneration of an American citizen of Pakistani origin in extradition proceedings.
Haris Hasan was accused of committing rape, battery and assault in Detroit (Michigan), USA, before his return to Pakistan earlier this year.
His extradition was sought by the United States through its embassy in Islamabad and the federal interior ministry instituted an inquiry into the charges under the Extradition Act. Inquiry magistrate Sadaf Asif said in her findings that there was no prima facie case against the accused. Since the Extradition Act did not provide for an appeal, the government moved a writ petition to question the findings and the manner of conducting the inquiry proceedings.
The petition was admitted by a regular division bench in May. A special division bench was constituted to hear the petition during the summer vacation. The bench, which consists of Justices Mushir Alam and S. Ali Aslam Jafri, assembled late on Tuesday and adjourned its proceedings to Wednesday due to paucity of time. Attorney-General Makhdoom Ali Khan will argue the government’s case.
DETENTION: Meanwhile, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad and Justice Mushir Alam adjourned the hearing of a petition moved by a PML (Q) worker Sajid Tanki against his detention under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance to June 23.
Additional Advocate-General Qazi Khalid Ali submitted that the detenu was an habitual offender and had a number of cases registered against him, including two under Sections 107 and 151.
The bench asked the AAG to submit his detailed comments by June 23, when the petition would again come up for hearing.
BAIL PLEA: Justice Shabbir Ahmed adjourned further hearing of the bail applications of former federal secretary Javed Burki and co-accused Muzammil Niazi to Wednesday.
The applicants are standing trial before an accountability court for allegedly misappropriating a huge amount of public funds in a truck manufacturing project involving the Pakistan Automobile Corporation, formerly headed by Burki.
A division bench had returned a split verdict on the applications, with Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany granting bail and Justice Rehmat Hussain Jaferi rejecting the plea with a direction to the accountability court to conclude the trial expeditiously. The matter has been assigned to Justice Shabbir as a referee judge.