Bank freezes Aleema’s accounts

AWALPINDI: On the orders of the Special Court of Anti-Terrorism Rawalpindi, a bank froze another account of Aleema Khanum, the sister of PTI’s former chairman, here on Thursday.

During the hearing, Special Prosecutor Zaheer Shah and 5 prosecution witnesses appeared in the court along with the case file. A detailed report regarding Aleema Khanum’s bank accounts was presented in the court, which mentioned freezing of 12 different bank accounts of the defendant. One such account has an amount of Rs 12.4 million, while another bank has frozen 10 accounts of the defendant on court’s orders.

However, two banks in Karachi did not respond to the court order nor they responded to the contempt of court notice. This prompted the court to order arrest warrants for the respective branch managers. Two other banks were also issued contempt of court notices for not responding to the court’s order.

Prosecutor Zaheer Shah told the court that Aleema Khanum is deliberately making a mockery of the judicial process and is violating the court orders by not appearing before the court for the eighth time. The accused, he said is deliberately evading the trial, although the interim bail of the accused was confirmed by the same court.

The prosecutor requested the court to order records of all the movable and immovable properties of the defendant to start confiscation procedure. Agreeing with the prosecution, the court issued notices to the DG Punjab Land Record Authority, Secretary Cooperative, Senior Member Punjab Board Revenue, Chairman CDA and Commissioner Islamabad and sought relevant details. It also sought records regarding the registration from the SECP. At prosecution’s request the court once again issued a non-bailable arrest warrant for Aleema Khanum and adjourned the hearing until November 10.

Similarly, the Special Court of Anti-Terrorism Rawalpindi postponed the hearing of bail applications of PTI’s former chairman filed in 7 different cases until November 15, due to the non-appearance of the petitioner’s lawyers.

During the hearing of case number 3,393 registered at Sadiqabad police station on November 26, neither did the main accuse nor any of his lawyers appeared in the court. However, the seven other accused were represented by their lawyers while three turned up at the court.

Advocate Hasnain Sumbal appeared in the court and requested the court to wait for Barrister Salman Safdar who would reach the court at 11 am. Prosecutor Zaheer Shah told the court that the investigation officers of all the cases were present along with the records and the prosecution was ready to discuss the applications. However, despite the court waiting until 12:30 pm, none of the lawyers of the defendant turned up in the court.

The Special Court of Anti-Terrorism adjourned the hearing until November 15.