Bail plea rejected in IHC attack case

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) rejected the bail plea of a lawyer and adjourned eight pleas in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) vandalism case on Monday.

ATC Judge Raja Jawad Abbas Hassan heard the bail petition in which a lawyer, Naziran Malik, withdrew her bail plea. The court was told that she had joined the investigation and it was learnt that she was not part of the mob which stormed IHC. The petitioners’ lawyers said that advocate Zafar Khokar was accused of delivering provoking speech when the incident occurred. They said they did not hurl pejoratives in the court of the IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah.

The counsels said FIRs were registered against their colleagues and they were put behind bars which was beyond comprehension. The court also rejected the post-arrest bail plea for lawyer Khalid Hussain Taj while adjourning the hearing on pre-arrest bail pleas of advocates Qasim Iqbal, Mudassir Rizwan, Akhtar Hussain, Muhammad Ayub Arbab, Chaudhry Hafeezullah, Fazl Elahi, Hammad Saeed Dar, and Muhammad Younus until March 22. Meanwhile, in another case pertaining to the attack on District sessions court, the adjourned the hearing on petitions filed by lawyers Mudassir Rizwan, Chaudhry Mansoor, and Rao Sabir after the conclusion of arguments until March 22.