Protective bail of ILF president, minister extended

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday extended the protective bail of Insaf Lawyers Forum president Qazi Muhammad Anwar advocate and provincial Minister Nek Muhammad and barred law enforcement agencies from arresting them.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Sahibzada Asadullah and Justice Aurangzeb heard the petition filed by Qazi Anwar in the Peshawar High Court. The petitioner’s counsel Alam Khan Adenzai informed the court that his client was affiliated with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.

He said that following the protest in Islamabad on November 24, several cases were registered against his client. Despite the intention to appear before the relevant courts, he pleaded that there was a risk of arrest of his client prior to reaching the court.He argued they were unaware of the number of cases registered or the cities in which they had been filed.

The court had previously directed the federal government to submit details of the registered cases; however, the federal authorities were yet to comply.As a result, the court extended the protective bail and issued a notice to the federal government to provide details of the cases filed against Qazi Anwar.

Similarly, while hearing the petition of provincial Minister Nek Muhammad, Justice Sahibzada Asadullah questioned the petitioner’s lawyer about when these cases would end. In response, the lawyer told the court that the federal government was harassing provincial ministers in Islamabad, and when ministers were harassed, they had no choice but to approach the courts.The court extended the protective bail of Nek Muhammad and ordered that he not be arrested by the authorities.