Chief Justice of IHC Justice Athar Minallah directs Secretary Interior not to harass Fawad

ISLAMABAD  -  The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday directed Secretary Interior not to harass former federal minister Fawad Chaudhary while it also granted protective bail to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shahbaz Gill.

A single bench of IHC comprising Chief Justice of IHC Justice Athar Minallah issued the directions in two separate petitions moved by them through their counsels Faisal Fareed and Syed Muhammad Ali Bukhari advocates.

The IHC Chief Justice directed the Secretary Ministry of Interior and the respondents including Federal Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, Inspector General (IG) of Islamabad police are directed to ensure that no harassment is caused to the petitioner (Fawad) nor coercive adverse measures are taken against him till the next date fixed.

He added, “It is expected that matter will be brought to the attention of the worthy Speaker of the National Assembly of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament). The latter is expected to ensure that liberty of members of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) is not curtailed by the respondents without his approval nor that they are harassed in any manner due to the incident which had taken place in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.” In the matter of Fawad Chaudahry, the petitioner invoked the constitutional jurisdiction of the court under Article 199 of the Constitution and asserted that due to political victimisation multiple criminal cases have been registered at the behest of the federal government merely to harass and intimidate him and other leaders/workers of PTI.

His counsel stated that criminal cases have also been registered within the jurisdiction of this court relating to the incident which had taken place in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He further contended that the petitioner and other leaders of PTI are being illegally harassed.

In response to a query, the counsel informed that the petitioner had tendered his resignation as member of the National Assembly of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) but so far the Election Commission has not issued a notification.

After hearing the arguments, the bench directed the registrar office to issue notices to the respondents for filing report and parawise comments and deferred the hearing till Mary 9.

Similarly, the same counsel also contended that the petitioner namely, Muhammad Shahbaz Shabeer is abroad and he is scheduled to return on 04.05.2022. He alleged that due to political victimisation he has been nominated in more than a dozen criminal cases registered across the country.

The petitioner’s counsel stated that the petitioner is returning to surrender before the competent courts and is, therefore, seeking protective bail.

The court granted protective bail to Shahbaz and directed the Federal Investigation Agency and the other authorities at the International Airports to ensure that the petitioner is facilitated to appear before the Court on May 6 at 10:30 am.

It further said that his liberty shall not be curtailed till the date fixed and adjourned the hearing till May 6 for further proceedings in this matter.