Court orders release of 15 PTI activists
Lahore High Court Rawalpindi Bench Judge Justice Chaudhry Abdul Aziz Friday ordered the immediate release of 15 Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) activists who were previously taken into custody from Attock and Chakwal.
The court ruled that the detention of political activists was illegal. According to sources, the petition seeking the release of the detainees was filed by the lawyers of the Insaf Lawyer’s Forum including Shaukat Rauf Siddiqi, Zahid Anwer, and Shaukat Joya. They took the stance that the police raided the houses of these workers at midnight on the orders of the government that were rooted in revenge.
They further pleaded that the police entered their houses and took them away while they were asleep which was unlawful.
On other hand, the assistant advocate general requested the court to reject the petition. After hearing the arguments, the court ordered the immediate release of activists including Malik Arif, Sibtain Shah, Tahir Mehmood, Malik Ismail, Kamran, Iqbal Gul Khan, and Hayat who were arrested from Attock. It also ordered the release of M Saham, Abdul Shakoor, Asif Mehmood, Banaras, M Jahangir, M Ali, Mohammad Imran, M Adil, and Akhter Hussain who were taken into custody from Chakwal.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 25th, 2023.