2024-07-25 16:59:07
(Malik Muhammad Ashraf) The Lahore High Court has given a verdict on the petition against the physical remand of the founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan in 12 cases of May 9. Declared.
A 2-member bench headed by Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh heard the case. At the beginning of the hearing, Justice Anwar-ul-Haq inquired how many cases the petitioner is named in? Imran Khan’s lawyer Salman Safdar said that founder PTI is a named accused in 3 cases, there are 2 categories of cases, one in which the nominee is named and the other in which he is nominated by the supplementary.
On this occasion, the Prosecutor General of Punjab presented the record of all the cases registered against the founder PTI in the court. He also presented the progress report in the cases before the court. When you hoped that he would come out of jail, then you made arrests in these cases. The law is that as soon as you know the accused, you should arrest him. Why didn’t you arrest him first?
Prosecutor General Punjab replied that the accused was then on interim bail and could not be arrested. The Prosecutor General said that I can tell you from the record that Imran Khan has written to us that he will not join the investigation. While doing this, Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh remarked that it should also be seen whether there was a need for remand for so many days.
The Prosecutor General said that Imran Khan has written to us that he will give a statement to the police in the presence of his lawyer. Required? Why do you need physical remand for 15 or 20 minutes to do some tests?
Justice Tariq Saleem Shaikh remarked that the timing of the petitioner’s arrest is important, the Prosecutor General Punjab said that Imran Khan himself said that his life was in danger and he could not appear in the courts, the petitioner was on bail, hence the arrest first. Not inserted.
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He said that as soon as the bails were released from the anti-terrorism court, we arrested him, there are PEMRA reports, we have to investigate. On this, the court remarked that what are the PEMRA reports? If Pemra calls a girl a boy, then it cannot be believed. If a politician gives a speech, we have to see if his mentality is criminal or not. Can you tell me what is the offense in what the petitioner tweeted? And under which section the action will be taken?
Later, the court adjourned the proceedings for 10 minutes. On the resumption of the hearing, the Prosecutor General Punjab presented the details of the founder PTI’s social media accounts before the court. He read out Imran Khan’s tweets. It was said that a specific narrative was created, on this Justice Anwar-ul-Haq Pannu said that judges are receiving more threats than what you have read in the tweet.
The Prosecutor General replied that the narrative was created by the PTI, on which Justice Anwar Haq Pannu inquired that you should say that the vote is not a narrative. Prosecutor General Punjab said that it is not a statement to say that the vote is not getting respect because of the Army Chief.
The court remarked that if the petitioner gave a protest call, how would it be a crime? If he had led the attacks, then it would have been a crime, Justice Anwar Haq Pannu said what material is there against the petitioner? The Prosecutor General will read it himself, we will not read it, Justice Tariq Salim Shaikh said that the judge of the Anti-Terrorism Court should have seen whether the remand is made or not.
Prosecutor General Punjab replied that sedition would be prosecuted under Section 121, Justice Tariq Saleem Shaikh said that this section has been struck down by the Lahore High Court.
On this, the Prosecutor General Punjab said that the security branch officer has given a statement that Imran Khan had issued instructions that if the Rangers or the army arrest me, then shut down the country, attack the GHQ.
Later, the Prosecutor General Punjab requested to reject the requests of Imran Khan.
The Prosecutor General Punjab took the stand that our investigation will be affected so the court should dismiss the petitions, the mobile phones from which the tweets were made should also be recovered.
Justice Anwarul Haq Pannu said that even if extradition is to be done, then you cannot take the petitioner out of jail, how will you do extradition?
Salman Safdar, the founder PTI’s lawyer, started the arguments and said that in this case, Imran Khan has been granted bail, in 9 cases, the police slept for 425 days and in three cases, the police slept for 170 days. Stayed asleep.
Salman Safdar said that for physical remand, it is necessary to present the accused in the court itself, there is no such compulsion that Imran Khan cannot be presented, it is the responsibility of the government to provide security. Kar is not presenting Imran Khan for physical remand.
Later, the Lahore High Court reserved its decision on twelve petitions against Imran Khan’s physical remand.
It should be noted that on July 24, the Lahore High Court, while adjourning the hearing on the request against physical remand in 12 cases of founder PTI on May 9, had submitted a detailed report to the Prosecutor General regarding the cases filed against Imran Khan.
2024-07-25 16:59:07