Court adjourns plea for FIR against Chattha

The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Hakim Khan Bakhar adjourned the hearing of the application, seeking registration of a case against former Rawalpindi commissioner Liaquat Ali Chattha for his confession of carrying out rigging in the February 8 national elections until April 15.

The court also directed the relevant authorities to produce the former commissioner in the court on the next date of hearing.

At the onset of the hearing, the officers of Civil Lines police station and the official public prosecutor told the court that the former commissioner had been in hiding since the confession of the alleged rigging in the general elections.

Read: PBC calls for probe into Chattha’s allegations

“He is not present in his home in Rawalpindi and in his native village of Hafizabad,” they told the court and added that due to the former commission’s continuous hiding, the court summons could not be complied with.

On the other hand, the petitioner’s lawyer, Zeb Fayyaz, adopted the stance that the former commissioner gave an interview on open media, which was aired on all channels, requesting the court to issue directives for registration of the case against him.

The court, however, declared that it was necessary to hear the stance of the accused before passing any order and adjourned the hearing.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2024.