PHC grants bail to POC-holding Afghans

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has ordered the release on bail of 68 Afghan nationals, including minor children and holders of Pakistan Origin Cards (POCs), who were arrested under the Foreigners Act.

A single-member bench headed by Chief Justice Peshawar High Court Justice SM Atiq Shah heard the petitions. Counsel for the petitioners, including Ziarat Khan Mahmand and others, informed the court that the applicants, arrested by police under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act, included individuals below 18 years of age as well as POC card holders.

The lawyers submitted that the minor children possessed school identity cards, while POC holders had additional documents proving their legal stay in Pakistan.

After hearing the arguments in full, the court ordered the release on bail of the underage children and Afghan refugees holding POC cards.

Seperately, PHC has disposed of a writ petition filed by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Minister Dr Amjad Ali against the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), directing the bureau not to harass the petitioner.

The two-member bench comprising Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Qazi Javad Ihsanullah heard the matter. Advocate Bashir Wazir, representing the petitioner, told the court that his client, a sitting provincial minister, had been issued notices by NAB and was facing harassment despite providing records related to his assets.

He added that the court had previously ordered NAB not to issue fresh summons, yet the bureau had done so again.

Special Prosecutor NAB Arbab Kaleemullah submitted that no direct call-up notice had been issued to the provincial minister. Instead, NAB had summoned a female relative and a close friend of the minister as witnesses, claiming that certain assets in their names actually belonged to the minister but had not been declared.

Justice Syed Arshad Ali observed that NAB should proceed strictly in accordance with the law and refrain from harassing the petitioner. He noted that if any harassment occurred, the petitioner could file a fresh application on that ground.

The bench ultimately disposed of the provincial minister's writ petition.