and dignity of this court”.
The court issued notices to the chief secretary, the home secretary, the IGP, the Additional IGP Karachi and the DIG South, directing them to give an explanation for this action.
It also directed the provincial government not to register any more FIRs against Mirza without the permission of the court.
Bail extended
Besides, the SHC also extended Mirza’s protective bail for five more days, enabling him to approach the court concerned and to avail a legal remedy in accordance with the law.
Mirza also expressed apprehensions that police deployed in civvies and covered faces had been instructed to kill him on account of political enmity and he needed protection.
He said several bogus cases had been lodged against him to arrest him or kill him in a fake police encounter. He prayed to the court to grant him protection from being arrested in the cases against him till Monday.
The court observed that these were peculiar circumstances as the petitioner had remained a home minister and his wife was a national assembly speaker and now all of a sudden, terrorism cases were being registered against him.
It also noted that the entire police force appeared to be working only on the task of arresting the petitioner and that spoke volumes about what was going on. The court ordered that the petitioner should not be arrested in any case till May 25 and the IGP, the additional IGP Karachi and Rangers DG would provide him security to facilitate his appearance before the court on that date.
Despite the court orders about the provision of security to the petitioner, no police officer escorted the petitioner when he left the high court in the evening. Later, Mirza was provided security by Rangers who escorted him till his residence at 9pm. Talking to reporters at the high court building, Dr Fahmida Mirza condemned the siege and the arrest of her husband’s guards outside a court.
She said those private security guards had licensed weapons and the court had allowed her spouse to hire a private service for their protection. She condemned the manhandling of media personnel by police outside the court and demanded an inquiry into the incident.
Request for exemption
ATC-III dismissed a plea of Zulfiqar Mirza seeking exemption from appearance in court in a case lodged at Darakhshan police station. Mirza is facing charges under the provisions 293, 294 and 295 of the Anti-Terrorism Act and in some of the cases pending with the ATC concerned Mirza and around 107 of his accomplices have been granted interim bail till June 2.