Dr Asim suffers paralysis attack

A new bench of Sindh High Court has been constituted to hear Dr Asim's bail application

KARACHI: Dr Asim Hussain reportedly suffered a paralysis attack on Friday evening, according to his spokesperson.

Aamir Shahzad, the public relations officer of the former petroleum adviser, told The Express Tribune that Hussain was stricken by a   paralysis attack at around 4:30pm.



Dr Asim, who is already confined at Jinnah hospital as several cases against him are being heard in various courts, was taken to the hospital's radiology ward, where doctors immediately conducted an MRI and advised complete bed rest.

Further, After much back and forth, a new bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC) was constituted to hear the bail application of Dr Asim and others in a case relating to alleged sheltering and treatment of ‘terrorists’ at his private health facilities in Karachi.

The bench, comprising Justices Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Abdul Malik Gaddi, will take up the bail plea of the former petroleum adviser on November 1 after some judges earlier distanced themselves from the case on different occasions. This iss the fifth bench constituted to hear the plea, said Dr Asim’s lawyer, Advocate Qadir Khan Mandokhel.



On Friday, Mandokhel had moved an application seeking urgent hearing of his bail plea, filed on July 4 this year after the Rangers handed over his custody to the police following months-long detention.

Mandokhel said his client needed to travel abroad for treatment of a spinal cord issue as a medical board had recommended him to undergo surgery — a facility not available in the country.

He argued that the applicant was suffering as he was being kept in custody in connection with the case, which is based on fake documents. He recalled that while the police had already acquitted him of the charge under Section 173 of the CPrC, the administrative judge of the anti-terrorism courts took cognisance of the alleged offence.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2016.