Shooting from the mouth: SC summons Sanaullah for anti-Awan remarks

Court denies bail to accused in Times Square bomb plot.

ISLAMABAD:

Justice Javed Iqbal of the Supreme Court (SC) has summoned Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, on July 7, in his chamber, for declaring former law minister Babar Awan liable to be killed.

Despite being a senior advocate of the Supreme Court and a key figure in the ruling coalition, Awan filed an application in the apex court’s human rights cell and petitioned Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary to take suo motu action on Sanaullah’s statement. The chief justice forwarded the application to Justice Javed Iqbal who heard Awan’s arguments in his chamber on Monday.

The former law minister filed an application on June 20, requesting the apex court to form a judicial commission to examine Sanaullah’s statement. The provincial law minister had said that Awan was liable to be murdered. Awan wrote that if he or his family came to any harm or there was damage to his property, Rana Sanaullah should be held responsible. He contended that the Punjab government planned to attack him en route to Lahore during his recent visit. He said the conspiracy was disclosed to a former federal minister from Balochistan who is ready to depose before the court. Awan said the Punjab government was desperate to arrest him on false charges to make an attempt on his life either in jail or at a police station or on the premises of district courts. “There is imminent danger to the life of the petitioner solely on account of his political activities from Rana Sanaullah and others,” Awan maintained.

Meanwhile, a three-member bench headed by the chief justice denied bail to Shahid Hussain, an alleged accomplice of Faisal Shahzad, accused of plotting the foiled Times Square bomb attack, and directed the trial court to wrap up the case.

The counsel contended that his client had ties with Shahzad, who would stay with him whenever he was in Islamabad, but he was not involved in plotting the Times Square attack. Hussain’s counsel said his client was picked up by secret agencies last May. An FIR of his abduction was registered four months later. The court observed that there were serious allegations against him on record and rejected his bail application.





Published in The Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2011.