Verdict reserved in vandalism case

JIT report states another 18 lawyers on police radar over IHC attack

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has reserved its verdict to grant physical remand to the lawyers involved in storming the high court building. A two-member divisional bench comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani presided over the case on Monday.

The counsel had challenged the rejection of the petition for physical remand of the arrested lawyers by an anti-terrorism court (ATC). Justice Farooq said the plea was rejected on March 22 and the lawyers were imprisoned on judicial remand for more than a month.

He asked why the physical remand was being sought now and the reason behind the delay. At this, the counsel informed that the related documents were approved by the commissioner office on March 31 and the investigation officer (IO) told that he would require time to prepare the documents.

Justice Farooq reiterated how it could take so long. The court also ordered to read the statement of the security guard aloud. The counsel Danyal Hasan told the court that the IHC chief justice’s guard, Muhammad Shafique, had recorded his statement with the police. The guard said that arrested lawyers tried to snatch his gun from him.

The IO said that the lawyers initially tried to snatch the gun from security guard Fayyaz and then Shafique. He pleaded with the court to award physical remand of the arrested lawyers as they had to make recoveries.

At this, the lawyers’ counsel said that it was not even the case that any of the law practitioners were armed. He added that the suspects were already in jail for a long time, adding that no one had stopped IO from the investigation. After the conclusion of arguments, the court reserved its verdict.

Meanwhile, the joint investigation team (JIT) report stated that the police wanted to book another 18 lawyers in the IHC attack case.

The same bench heard the post-arrest bail cases of three lawyers, including IHC Bar Association (IHCBA) Secretary Tasadduq Hanif and Islamabad Bar Council (IBC) members, including Naseer Kiyani and Hammad Dar.

While submitting the report, SSP Investigation Ataur Rehman said that 18 new names have surfaced in the vandalism case. At this, the court asked if the police had booked unrelated people. The SSP responded that District Bar President Fareed Kaif and former IHC Bar president Haseeb Chaudhry were trying to stop the attackers. He added that IBC member Raja Aleem Abbasi was also present on the site.

The court directed to record the statement of the ex-president of high court bar. Justice Farooq further directed the SSP to clear the names of the law practitioners who had no role in the attack after satisfaction.

Furthermore, the deadline communicated by the Supreme Court (SC) to clear the football ground adjacent to district kutcheri of encroachment ended on Monday. The lawyers have not evacuated the illegal chambers and instead sought to fix the review petition against the apex court’s orders for hearing.

The SC had ordered lawyers to evacuate illegal chambers building in the football ground adjacent to Sector F-8 kutcheri. However, the Islamabad bar had filed a review petition against the apex court’s orders which has so far not been fixed for a hearing even though the deadline has now passed.

In a statement, Kaif said that they were ready to submit an affidavit that the lawyers were temporarily present in the chambers at the kutcheri and will move to the lawyers’ complex once its construction was finished.

On February 8, lawyers had barged into the senior-most judge’s chamber and chanted slogans against the judiciary and the CDA for the action against the demolition of their alleged illegal chambers at the Islamabad District Courts.

Justice Minallah was reportedly trapped inside his chamber following the incident. The protesters also forced the rest of the judges out of their courtrooms.

On February 9, a case was registered against 32 lawyers.

The FIR registered at the Ramna police station included Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act besides mob attack causing a threat to life, vandalism, disrupting peace and other relevant clauses of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2021.