Behind bars: Dr Asim sent to jail custody

NAB lawyer disputes ATC's decision of jail custody

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court sent on Tuesday former petroleum minister, Dr Asim Hussain, to jail custody in a case pertaining to harbouring and providing medical treatment to terrorists while screening them off from law enforcers.

Dr Asim was produced before the ATC-II judge by the police. Investigating officer, DSP Altaf Hussain, told the court that the suspect was arrested again following the directions of the administrative judge of ATCs.

On Monday, the Sindh High Court's Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto, who oversees the ATCs, had dismissed the police report in which the accused was released on account of 'lack of evidence.'

Since the suspect faces a number of corruption accusations, with some cases pending in an accountability court, arguments over his custody ensued in the courtroom.

The suspect was on physical remand in the National Accountability Bureau's custody, so the NAB prosecutor, Amjad Ali Shah, pleaded the judge to pass an order keeping the scenario in consideration. The judge replied that the ATC was concerned with the case falling within its ambit only.

The counsel representing the accused, Amer Raza Naqvi, submitted that his client was in custody since August 27 and had spent around 117 days in interrogation. He should be sent to prison on judicial remand, the defence counsel pleaded.

Rana Khalid, who represented the Rangers [complainant] in the case, argued that the 90 days of preventive detention should not be counted as time in custody. During the preventive detention, under Section 11EEEE of the Anti-Terrorism Act, a suspect is kept inside the jail for a joint investigation only, he explained.

The time period in custody starts once the suspect is handed over to the police, the paramilitary force's counsel maintained.

Meanwhile, Dr Asim intervened and asked the judge to allow him to explain something. He said that during the time he was detained by the paramilitary force, the police and other agencies were interrogating him. Pointing towards the law enforcers present in the courtroom, he asserted that they cannot deny that they did not come to question him in jail. He said that he was not informed at any instance that who and how many were interrogating him, that too without any notice.

The judge, however, told him that he will be given full opportunity to defend himself. After listening to all sides, the judge asked the prosecution to submit the list of witnesses and their statements by December 30.

The custody of Dr Asim, however, remained with NAB since the judge allowed them to keep the suspect until Wednesday (today). The accused will be produced before an accountability court, where the fate of his custody will be decided.

In the charge sheet submitted to the ATC, Muttahida Qaumi Moverment's Waseem Akhtar, Anis Qaimkhani and Saleem Shahzad, Pakistan Peoples Party's Qadir Patel and general secretary of Pasban-e-Pakistan, Usman Moazzam, have been shown as absconders. They have been alleged of asking Dr Asim to provide medical treatment to terrorists injured in encounters and clashes and shelter them from law enforcers.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 23^rd, 2015.