Rahim can’t be arrested if there is no case against him, rules court

SC disposes of Sindh govt’s appeal against SHC order

KARACHI: The Supreme Court has upheld a Sindh High Court restraining order on the arrest of former chief minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim.

The Sindh government had appealed against the verdict in the higher court but it was thrown out by  the SC’s Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany on Monday.

Appearing for the Sindh government, the Advocate-General Sindh had argued that the high court’s order applied for a specific period till the Senate elections and was not a perpetual one.

Arbab Rahim’s lawyer Rasheed Razvi argued back that that government had first forced Arbab to vote in the favour of their Senate candidate but when he refused, it decided to arrest him in some fabricated cases.

Arbab Rahim further earned the ire of the Sindh government by applying to become the leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly. The government then threatened to arrest him as soon as he returned to Pakistan. He has been on self exile in Dubai, his lawyer Razvi submitted, adding that his client was being subjected to political vendetta.

The judges asked if Arbab Rahim was wanted in any cases. When the AG said he wasn’t, the bench declared that the case was over and if no case was pending and nothing was on the record against him, he could not be arrested.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 4^th, 2012.