Lawyer bailed in IHC attack case

Decision on ex-district bar president’s plea reserved

ISLAMABAD:

A lawyer arrested for her alleged participation in the rampage of Islamabad High Court (IHC) got bailed against bonds of Rs50,000 on Monday while the court reserved its decision on a bail plea of the former president of Islamabad District Bar Malik Zafar Khokar.

Justice Aamir Farooq remarked that such incidents occurred regularly in Punjab but had never happened in Islamabad, adding that the regulator must look into the matter of the law practitioners involved in the attack.

The petitioner’s lawyer Latif Khosa stated that the apprehended lawyer, Nazia Bibi, was busy in a proceeding when the incident occurred. Khosa maintained that young lawyers were provoked and stated that Khokar was not involved in the attack either.

Read Courts being shifted to Hazara Judicial Complex

Justice Farooq said that if the juniors had come forward, the seniors must have stopped them. The prosecutor supported the bail plea of Nazia but opposed the Khokar’s plea. He mentioned that according to the testimonies of four constables, Khokar was leading the mob.

He stated that the sections of terrorism were rightfully included in the first information report (FIR). Neither the chief justice was a common citizen nor the building was an ordinary one, he added.

The petitioner’s counsel expressed that Malik joined the scene later as he was the presidential candidate, adding that the miscreants took advantage of the situation.

At this, the court asked if the IHC attack was justified to which Khosa responded in a non-affirmative. Justice Farooq commented that the bar had its method of accountability and it should be followed as a model.

Meanwhile, an Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Raja Jawad Abbas Hassan extended the judicial remand of Advocate Shoaib Gujjar arrested in the IHC attack case till March 4 and adjourned the hearing at the request of his lawyers.

On Monday, the accused Shoaib Gujjar was brought from jail and produced before the court. The judge inquired where was the investigating officer on which it was informed that he was at the High Court.

The lawyers complained that the challan had not been submitted by the police as of yet. It will be ascertained what allegations had been made once the challan would be submitted, they maintained.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 2^nd, 2021.