PTI lawyer handed over to military, LHC told

The Lahore High Court (LHC) was told on Monday that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawyer Haider Majeed had been handed over to military for trial over his alleged involvement in the May 9 vandalism at Jinnah House in the provincial capital.

Majeed’s father, on Saturday, filed a petition in the LHC, requesting the court to recover his son, maintaining that the latter was arrested along with Barrister Hassaan Niazi – nephew of PTI Chairman Imran Khan – on August 13.
Niazi was also handed over to the military court on the same charges.

Justice Sultan Tanveer of the LHC took up Haider’s father’s petition on Monday. The Lahore police submitted a report with the court stating that the accused had been handed over to the military.

The report noted that both Niazi and Haider were taken into custody from Abbottabad’s Mirpur police station by Sarwar Road police in a terrorism case.

It stated that two letters were received from a commanding officer of the army, according to which both the suspects were being handed over to the military for “investigation and inquiry” under two provisions of the Pakistan Army Act 1952.

The report was submitted through Additional Advocate General Ghulam Sarwar Nihang.

Later, the court adjourned the hearing till Tuesday (today).

The petition

In the petition filed on Saturday, Majeed’s father had named Punjab IG Usman Anwar, Lahore CCPO Bilal Siddique Kamyana, SHO Sarwar Road, and the provincial and federal governments as respondents in the case.

The plea requested the court to direct the respondents to “immediately produce” his son and release him accordingly.
It maintained that Haider, “a law-abiding citizen and [a] professional member of legal fraternity” had been “abducted illegally”.

It further noted that the “police gave no reason for the abduction” and “did not present any search warrant, arrest warrant or any grounds of arrest”.