Case in Tank: PHC allows PTI leader to appear in court via video link

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Monday allowed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and former provincial minister Kamran Bangash to appear via video link in a case registered against him in the Tank district.

A single bench comprising acting Chief Justice SM Atique Shah issued the directive while disposing of Bangash’s petition seeking transfer of the case from Tank to Peshawar.

Representing the petitioner, Barrister Sarwar Shah informed the court that his client was facing several charges in a case filed in Tank and had requested that the matter be shifted to Peshawar due to prevailing law and order concerns in the area.The chief justice remarked that if government representatives started requesting case transfers, it could set a precedent for others. The petitioner’s counsel clarified that although Bangash was affiliated with the ruling party in the province, he was not currently part of the government.

The counsel stated that similar cases had been registered against Bangash in Dera Ismail Khan and Kohistan, and that he had already been acquitted in a related FIR filed in Haripur.

He requested the court to allow his client to appear through video link instead of attending proceedings in person, to which the judge agreed. “People are appearing via video link from as far as the United States,” the judge noted.

Upon the lawyer’s request to include the option of video link appearance in the court’s written order, the judge advised him to withdraw the petition, stating that the facility of video appearance was already available and could be availed.

Following the hearing, Kamran Bangash spoke to the media and refrained from commenting on the accountability committee formed by the provincial government.Commenting on the proposed Mines and Minerals Act, Bangash said party consultations were ongoing within the cabinet and the matter would be presented to the party’s founder Imran Khan for a final decision.

“Imran Khan is our leader while everyone else is a party worker. While internal differences may exist, we remain united for the release of our leader and the supremacy of the Constitution and the rule of law,” he added.Bangash said that PTI was a democratic party where everyone had the right to disagree.