Safe City MD summoned in drug peddling case

Accused’s counsels fear footage of his arrest may be deleted

LAHORE: An anti-narcotics court judge summoned the Safe City Authority MD, along with records, after the counsels of PML-N Punjab President Rana Sanaullah shifted their focus to safeguarding the CCTV footage which showed their client’s arrest.

As proceeding commenced, duty judge Khalid Bashir asked Sanaullah was not produced before the court. His counsels said the lawyers’ strike was the reason, but the accused later made an appearance.

His counsel Azam Nazir Tarar told the court that Sanaullah was the subject of political victimisation. He reiterated that the accused had nothing to do with the smuggling case in which he was implicated.

Sanaullah was an active member of PML-N and this was an active attempt to create trouble in party ranks, he stressed. “The FIR was registered against Sanaullah with a delay and this creates doubts.

He further contended that they had requested the court for footage from Safe City Authority cameras, but the Anti-Narcotics Force had produced nothing to this end. He reminded the judge that his court had also summoned records from the authority.

The court was yet to determine, however, whether or not the application seeking CCTV footage was of any importance, the state officer argued in response. He claimed the accused had not submitted any application to the authority seeking the footage.

Sanaullah’s counsels said they would not discuss the application if the safe city officer ensures the court that footage will not be destroyed for at least six months. They said a man was facing charges which could lead to life imprisonment or a death sentence and found it astonishing that an argument was being heard about whether the application for footage was of a serious nature.

After hearing the arguments, the judge fixed October 2 for the next date of hearing. Talking to the media outside the court, Rana Sanaullah slammed Prime Minister Imran Khan, saying the Kashmir issue could not be resolved through speeches alone. He said Pakistan should have submitted a resolution with the UN human rights council with signatures of 16 members.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29^th, 2019.