LARKANA: The Sindh High Court’s Larkana circuit bench on Thursday restrained the Sindh Rangers, police and other security agencies as well as the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) from harassing petitioner Zafar Anwar aka Tariq Khan

Siyal, the brother of former home minister Suhail Anwar Siyal, and directed them to ensure his protection.

The bench comprising Justice Abdul Rasool Memon and Justice Rasheed Ahmed Soomro issued notices to the respondents cited by Tariq Siyal for Aug 11.

Mr Siyal through his counsel Advocate Habibullah Ghouri filed the petition on July 14, a day after a raid was conducted on the house of Asad Kharal — the man later described by investigating agencies as his front man — in Larkana and he (Mr Siyal) was accused of leading a mob that helped Kharal escape from the custody of law-enforcers soon after the pre-dawn raid.

The petitioner has cited the Larkana Rangers commandant, DIG and SSP, local heads of the NAB, FIA, Intelligence Bureau and ACE as well as the SHOs of the Bakrani and Market police stations of Larakana as respondents.

The petitioner submitted in court that the respondents and their subordinates had been harassing him, his family members, friends and party (Pakistan Peoples Party) colleagues.

He alleged that the respondents were forcing him, his relatives and associates to quit the PPP and were threatening to implicate them in false cases in case of defiance.

He also alleged that the respondents were picking up political workers, keeping them at unknown places and forcing them to quit the party.

The petitioner claimed that in one such instance, plain clothes personnel picked up some political workers and the Larakana SSP intervened but no legal action had been taken against personnel involved in theincident.

He said the respondents’ acts were against the law and Constitution.

Tariq Siyal did not personally appear in the hearing during which the Bakrani and Market SHOs and representatives of the FIA, Intelligence Bureau, Larkana DIG and SSP filed their comments.

The officials stated that they neither harassed the petitioner, nor was any compliant against him was lodged with them.

Special prosecutor for NAB and Rangers’ law officer Ashraf Hussain Shah requested court to allow time to file their comments on the petition. The bench directed him to file the comments on the next date of hearing.

Kaimkhani’s bail plea adjourned

HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad sessions court on Thursday adjourned till the next day the hearing of the bail application filed by Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) leader Anis Kaimkhani. It directed the defence counsel, Advocate Ahmed Rasheed, to satisfy it on the point of jurisdiction of the court.

Kaimkhani, who is currently interned in the Central Prison Karachi in a case pertaining to the medical treatment of terrorists at the Ziauddin Hospital, has sought his bail in an arson case registered against him and some other suspects in May 1994.

The charge-sheet of the arson case was originally submitted in the Suppression of Terrorist Activities Court, Hyderabad, but after abolition of all such courts set up by the federal government, the cases they had been trying were transferred to sessions courts.

Advocate Rasheed argued that his client’s co-accused, Salahuddin and Kanwar Naveed Jamil, had been acquitted in the case in 2003. He informed the court that Kaimkhani’s name was included in the case later. He contended that it was a case of political victimisation and required further investigation.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2016