Azam Swati sent to jail on judicial remand

IHC judge regrets his strong remarks against ATC judge

ISLAMABAD:

A division bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) invalidated the physical remand of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Azam Swati granted by the trial court in eight cases and sent him to jail on judicial remand on Thursday.

The bench comprised Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb and Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir, heard the petitions against Azam Swati's physical remand orders granted by Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Judge Abul Hastat Zulqarnain.

Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb expressed regret over his strong remarks against Judge Zulqarnain during a hearing of the matter on Wednesday. He said that he should have refrained from such remarks because the judge was not present in the court.

During the hearing, Swati's lawyer Advocate Ali Bukhari, Islamabad Prosecutor General Ghulam Sarwar, Inspector General of Police Office Law Officer Tahir Kazim and Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Legal Sajid Cheema appeared before the court.

At the outset of the hearing, the explanation, sought from Judge Zulqarnain on Wednesday, was also submitted in the court, on which the court expressed its satisfaction. The court also sought record of all of the cases.

The court enquired from Advocate Bukhari whether one remand could be issued in all cases. Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb asked what was wrong, if the physical remand was finally given at 6:30pm. He cited the judge's explanation that there were 13 cases and that this process took time.

Advocate Bukhari told the court that a petition was filed in the high court and it transpired that 12 cases were registered against Swati, however, the information about one case was suppressed deliberately in the details submitted to the high court.

Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb asked the prosecution whether it sought further physical remand of Swati. On that the prosecutor general replied that he could not make any statement on that matter for now.

Justice Arbab raised the question, whether Swati was arrested in all the cases. The prosecutor general replied that physical remand had been granted in all the cases, which meant that he had been arrested in all those cases.