SHC orders release of 40 PTI workers

Sindh chief justice trashes material presented by prosecution against activists held under 3 MPO

KARACHI:

The workers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) got a big relief from the Sindh High Court as the court ordered the release of more than 40 arrested PTI members under the section three of the maintenance of public order (3 MPO) on surety bonds of Rs10,000 each.

The petition against the detention of PTI leaders and workers under the MPO was heard before a two-member bench headed by the SHC Chief Justice Ahmad Ali Shaikh.

The response was submitted to the court by IG Sindh. In the reply, it was said that 525 persons were notified under the MPO for detention while 154 of them have been detained under the MPO so far.

The identification of the remaining persons is in progress. After the May 9 incident, the SSPs had sent recommendations to the higher authorities. On their recommendation the home department issued the MPO.

Mother of a PTI member Rizwan Ramzan, who was picked up from Lyari, appeared in the court. She said, "My son contested the councilor election from Lyari. He was picked up and later sent to Jacobabad. My son is the sole breadwinner of the house. The family does not have enough money to go to Jacobabad to follow legal procedures."

The police said that four accused were released by the subordinate court. The accused were arrested under MPO. The high court ordered their release and suspended the order of arrest under the MPO.

Additional Advocate General Jawad Dero submitted that the petitions are not maintainable.

The chief justice remarked, "You should talk about maintainability later, but first tell the court what material against the arrested accused.

Government lawyers failed to produce concrete material against the arrested PTI workers.

The court expressed dissatisfaction with the response of the Sindh government in many cases and ordered the release of more than 40 PTI workers.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 30^th, 2023.