Judicial remand extended for Zahir Jaffer’s parents

A district and sessions court has extended the judicial remand of Zakir Jaffer and Ismat Adamjee, parents of Zahir Jaffer who is in custody for the murder of 27-year-old Noor Mukaddam, till August 23.

The police escorted the two from the jail to the Islamabad court Bakhshi Khana under tight security from where their attendance was marked on Monday.

After the hearing, Judicial Magistrate Naseeruddin issued extension orders and the police took the suspects back to jail from Bakhshi Khana.

It may be recalled that both the suspects were brought to court upon completion of their 14-day judicial remand. Additional Sessions Judge Muhammad Sohail had also dismissed their post-bail pleas.

Meanwhile, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) adjourned the hearing on the bail plea of Umar Bilal at the request of the government’s lawyer in the Usman Mirza video scandal case.

Read: Twitter is furious Zahir Jaffer received preferential treatment in jail

IHC Judge Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri presided over the case on Monday. Sher Afzal Marwat represented the petitioner Umar Bilal while Hasan Javed appeared on behalf of the plaintiff. Javed said that he had to submit the power of attorney in the case while the public prosecutor sought time for preparations of arguments.

At this, the petitioner’s lawyer said he has to travel abroad on August 15 and pleaded with the court to fix the hearing soon. Justice Jahangiri said that he would have continued the hearing if either the prosecution or the plaintiff was asking for an adjournment. However, both of them were seeking it.

Therefore, the judge said that the next hearing would be conducted after two days and adjourned the hearing till August 12.

Moreover, IHC granted more time to Capital Development Authority (CDA) in a case seeking payment of salaries of its sanitary workers. Chief Justice Athar Minallah heard the case filed by the president sanitary workers association Ilyas Masih.

CDA's lawyer adopted the stance that his department required more time for submission of comments against the case and prayed the bench to adjourn the hearing on this case, which was accepted by the court.

In the last hearing, the court had expressed serious concern over the non-payment of salaries to the sanitary workers and had instructed the civic body to send its senior officials along with a detailed report on the subject.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 10^th, 2021.