KARACHI: Sindh’s top bureaucrat has been asked to comment in court on his supposed plans to shift the incarcerated leader of a political party to a distant prison to delay legal proceedings.
The petition was filed by Amjad Shafqat Hussain, who is the younger brother of Afaq Ahmed, the chief of his own faction of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi.
He maintained that Afaq has learnt that the home secretary was thinking of shifting him. This would frustrate his attempts to fight for his release by delaying proceedings until the forthcoming elections. Justice Maqbool Baqar and Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi asked the Sindh home secretary to file comments in a week. Afaq’s brother has asked the court to restrain the home secretary, inspector-general of prisons and the superintendent of Central Prison from transferring the prisoner. He also asked for a restraining order against detaining Afaq in any other case or under the rules of the Maintenance of Public Order.
On Monday, the superintendent of the Central Prison of Karachi submitted his comments and denied any such plan to move Afaq. He also said that there was no restriction on Afaq meeting his lawyer. After going through the jailer’s comments, Afaq’s brother’s lawyer Muhammad Farooq Advocate requested the court to call comments from the home secretary as a cautionary measure. The bench adjourned till October 12. Afaq Ahmed has been behind bars since April 2004 and has been granted bail in all the cases registered against him except one, which is also close to a decision.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 20th, 2011.
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