Marwat’s interim bail extended till May 22

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday extended the interim bail of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Sher Afzal Marwat till May 22 and directed the law-enforcement agencies not to arrest him.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Sahibzada Asadullah heard the petition, which also sought the quashing of the cases registered against the PTI leader Sher Afzal Marwat.

Advocate General Shah Faisal Utmankhel and Additional Advocate General Naumanul Haq Kakakhel appeared in the court.During the hearing, the advocate general told the bench that the government had constituted a committee comprising officials from the Law and Prosecution departments to review the cases and to decide which of them were politically motivated.

He said the committee would recommend quashing the politically motivated cases, and there was no evidence against the accused. The advocate general said those accused would be tried against whom there was evidence.

He said that the committee had started scrutiny of the 335 cases that were registered in the aftermath of the May 9 violence.Sher Azal Marwat told the court that 23 cases had been registered against him across the province. He said the cases pertained to the disturbance of law and order and roadblocks.