Govt restrained from arresting Asad Qaiser

By Amjad Safi

December 08, 2023

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday restrained the government from arresting the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader and former speaker of the National Assembly Asad Qaiser and ex-lawmaker Mujahid Khan in all the cases registered against them.

The directions were issued by a division bench comprising PHC Chief Justice Mohammad Ibrahim Khan and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim in a petition filed by the PTI leader seeking details of cases against him and his repeated arrests.

Former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser talking to the media in this undated photo. — APP/File

The PTI leader had made the provincial government, Home and Tribal Affairs Department, National Accountability Bureau, Anti-Corruption Establishment and Federal Investigation Agency respondents in the petition.

Sher Afzal Marwat advocate was counsel for Asad Qaiser and Mujahid Khan while Additional Advocate General Danyal Asad Chamkani and Deputy Prosecutor General Muhammad Ali represented the provincial government and National Accountability Bureau, respectively.

He said that the petitioner was granted pre-arrest bails by the relevant courts in both the cases.

However, he said his client was rearrested in another case registered by the ACE on Nov 2 accusing him of committing certain irregularities in the purchase of equipment for the Gajju Khan Medical College, Swabi.

He pointed out that when his client was granted bail and released from prison, he was again arrested by the police of Charssada district in connection with the May 9 violent protests near Charsadda Toll Plaza on the Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway.

Sher Afzal Marwat advocate contended that the law-enforcement agencies were making a mockery of the law as they had registered several cases and could include any person as suspect in them through supplementary statements.

He requested the court to restrain the police and law-enforcement agencies from re-arresting the petitioner in any case.

During the course of hearing, the chief justice said that all the judges were under the oath to defend the Constitution and protect the rights of the people.