Imran’s focal person sent on judicial remand

Judicial magistrate says police fail to recover anything from suspect

ISLAMABAD:

A district and sessions court in Islamabad on Thursday sent Hassan Niazi, the focal person and nephew of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan, to jail on a 14-day judicial remand in a case related to clashes between PTI workers and Islamabad police outside the Federal Judicial Complex during the court appearance of the former prime minister in the Toshakhana case.

The local court rejected the police’s plea seeking further physical remand of Hassan Niazi as the police failed to recover anything from the suspect during the investigation after taking him into custody.

Hassan Niazi was arrested on Monday in a separate case as he was leaving the Federal Judicial Complex after obtaining pre-arrest bail in three cases.

Hassan Niazi was produced in the court of Duty Magistrate Mureed Abbas in District and Sessions Court Islamabad after the expiry of his two-day physical remand.

PTI’s legal team also appeared in court after raising slogans on the court premises.

The investigating officer pleaded to the court to grant a further five-day physical remand of Hassan Niazi. The investigating officer said that the co-accused has been identified while Hasan Niazi’s arms and vehicle were to be recovered.

The PTI lawyers said that more than 72 hours have passed since his arrest but the police could not recover the (said) weapon.

The PTI counsel raised the question that if the arms and vehicle were not in possession of the police, then why have they detained Hassan Niazi?

Lawyer Faisal Chaudhry said that the police failed to trace the vehicle and its owner in the last 72 hours. He said that Hassan Niazi is a professional lawyer and he obtained three bails on the day of his arrest.

He said that cases were being registered against PTI leaders on political grounds. He said that a lawyer was detained for three days and given a message that he would be arrested and tortured. He said that Islamabad police were humiliating a professional lawyer.

PTI’s lawyer Ali Bukhari pleaded to discharge Hassan Niazi from the case, saying that his arrest was illegal.

Lawyer Qaiser Imam said that according to the police, the co-accused ran away while waving the weapon. He asked what kind of friendship is this.? “Being the president of the Islamabad Bar Association, I am very ashamed,” he added.

After hearing the arguments of the parties, Duty Magistrate Mureed Abbas reserved the verdict on the plea for the extension in the physical remand of Hassan Niazi.

Later, the court announced the reserved verdict, rejecting the police plea for further physical remand of Hassan Niazi. The court issued an order to send him to jail on a 14-day judicial remand.

The duty magistrate wrote in a two-page verdict that “according to the registered case, Hassan Niazi interfered in government affairs. According to the case, Hassan Niazi threatened the police and broke the barriers and the co-accused ran away from the crime scene.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 24^th, 2023.