The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday approved Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senior leader Fawad Chaudhry\u2019s two-day protective bail in all cases and barred the authorities from arresting him from within the limits of the federal capital till May 17.
\nEarlier today, the former information minister shortly after being released on bail rushed back to the court to evade the possible arrest as the police made a move to detain Fawad as he was leaving the IHC.
\nAfter securing bail from IHC, Fawad had just sat in his car and had barely moved when he saw Anti-Terrorist Squad personnel moving towards him.
\nAs soon as he saw the cops moving towards him the PTI leader ran out of his car and into the premises of the IHC to evade arrest. He is currently back in the court room along with his lawyers.
\nInterestingly, the police made a move to arrest the PTI leader despite him submitting an undertaking in the IHC of not violating the section 144 and taking part in protests.
\nSubsequently, IHC Justice Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb heard the PTI leader\u2019s petition seeking protective bail in all cases.
\nThe court had sought details of the case from the advocate general, who informed the court that two cases were registered against the PTI leader.
\nThe IHC accepted Fawad\u2019s bail petition and ordered the authorities concerned to send a copy of the verdict to the Islamabad police chief via \u201cspecial messenger\u201d.
\nEarlier today, the IHC had declared the arrest of PTI leaders Fawad, Shireen Mazari and Senator Falak Naz under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Ordinance (MPO) “illegal”.
\nThe orders to release the PTI leaders were issued by Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb\u2019s court while hearing separate pleas.
\nDuring Fawad Chaudhry’s hearing, Islamabad Advocate General Barrister Jahangir Jadoon appeared before the single-judge bench.
\n\u201cI want to place some facts before the court,\u201d he said, informing the court that the copy of the court\u2019s order was not given to the IG office and law officers. He added that the biometric verification of the PTI leader was also not done on the petition.
\nAt this, the judge rebuked the lawyer saying that he wasn\u2019t the judge and it was the court\u2019s authority to see whether the biometrics had been done.
\nMoving on, the AG contended that Fawad Chaudhry had not been arrested in any case. He would have been required to be presented in court if the arrest had been made under a case.
\nBarrister Jadoon further argued that Fawad through his conduct had to prove whether he is a peaceful citizen or not. He added that the nation incurred losses of billions due to the incidents of May 9.
\nAt this, Justice Aurangzeb remarked that the court had not barred the authorities from taking action on those incidents.
\nHowever, Jadoon mentioned that the court while stopping Imran Khan\u2019s arrest had mentioned the MPO separately. If they had stopped arrest in cases only, the arrest could have been made under MPO, he added.
\nAt this, the court asked who had advised that the arrest could be made under MPO.
\nTo the court\u2019s query, the AG responded that no one had advised them, however, they were unaware of the court order against arrest.
\nThe government lawyer then presented a tweet by Fawad, posted on May 10, saying that it was a video of the PTI leader inciting workers to join the protests.
\nThe government lawyer stated that Fawad in his tweet had said that it was liable to the PTI workers to take part in protests following Imran Khan’s arrest.
\nOn this point, Babar Awan argued that the deputy commissioner must have known about the high court\u2019s order on the arrest by now. He urged the court to extend its order stopping authorities from arresting Fawad and his client be given time to contact the relevant court.
\nThe court then asked if the police had shown any documents to the PTI leader at the time of his arrest.
\n\u201cWhen the order was read, the police officer said he did not know English,” said Awan. He added that his client was arrested based on material that does not exist.
\nTo this assertion by the PTI lawyer, Justice Aurangzeb responded that the incidents that occurred after Imran Khan\u2019s arrest should be taken seriously.
\n\u201cFawad Chaudhry is an important person, a former federal minister, does he not know the mob of Pakistan?\u201d asked Justice Aurangzeb.
\n\u201cWhen Fawad asked people to come out did he expect only law-abiding citizens to come out?\u201d
\n\u201cIf the district magistrate does not pass this [detention] order on the matter then what should be done?\u201d asked Justice Aurangzeb. He further added that the court had summoned Fawad so that he could be released.
\n\u201cIt had not seen the material shared by the advocate general today.\u201d
\nThe court had then reserved the verdict.
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