IHC seeks NA secy’s report on Shireen Mazari’s arrest

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court on Thursday sought a report from the National Assembly secretary on the May 21 arrest of senior PTI leader and former federal minister on human rights Shireen Mazari.

The directive came during the hearing of the petition filed by Shireen’s daughter Iman Mazari, against the arrest, as IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah termed the arrest as unlawful.“This court’s opinion about it [arrest] is that the action hadn’t been taken as per the legal process,” CJ Minallah remarked.

Later, the notification for the formation of the inquiry commission to probe Shireen’s arrest was presented before the court.The notification issued by the Cabinet Division stated that the three-member commission will be headed by former law secretary Justice retd Shakoor Paracha.

The other two members are former inspector-general Noman Khan and former federal secretary Dr Saifullah Chattah.As per the Terms of Reference (TORs), the commission will investigate Shireen’s arrest and conduct a transparent review of the allegations of misuse of authority in the arrest.

It further stated that the commission will send the recommendations to the federal cabinet by July 4, while the Islamabad administration will provide secretariat support to the commission.At the outset of the hearing today, Shireen and Imaan appeared before the court with their lawyer, Ali Bukhari. Bukhari raised an objection that the inquiry commission issued a notification on June 4.

He complained that no progress has been made in regard to the commission nor my client has been summoned for investigations. He also asked the court to inquire from the deputy attorney general whether his client’s application to include the investigation of criminal proceedings against her in the ToRs had been accepted.

‘PTI govt also put MNAs in prisons happily’At this, Justice Minallah said that the court cannot supervise the commission. “Let them do their work. You can submit another request if you have any objection in the future,” the judge remarked.

Meanwhile, the IHC chief justice inquired if the National Assembly speaker issued a report in this regard.Responding to the query, Deputy AG Arshad Kiyani said that no such report has been handed over to him.

Justice Minallah said that Ali Wazir is also an MNA and he is in prison. “When they [PTI] was in the government, they also put MNAs in prison happily,” the judge remarked.The hearing was adjourned till July 7.