Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) MPA Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind’s sufferings are far from over.
The Islamabad police on Monday received copies of arrest warrants for the leader of the opposition in the Balochistan Assembly in four new cases from the Balochistan police. However, the Islamabad police said that Rind could not be arrested as yet, arguing the photocopies of the warrants could be tampered with and nothing could be said about their authenticity.
SC grants bail
Earlier, admitting Rind’s bail plea, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, ordered his release and told him to submit a surety bond of Rs500,000. The bench was hearing Rind’s review petition filed against a judgment of the Balochistan High Court.
The leader of the opposition in the Balochistan Assembly had surrendered before the Supreme Court on November 2.
His counsel, Akram Sheikh, maintained that nobody was present during the trial court’s hearing against Rind and that one-sided proceedings were carried out.
Rind, his son Sardar Khan and four others were sentenced to life by an Anti-Terrorism Court in Quetta for their alleged involvement in the kidnapping of a man, and for failing to appear before the court on June 28, 2011.
Sheikh also argued that the sentence was announced in absentia.
Coming on the rostrum, Rind said that he was convicted over his failure to appear for his hearings. He added that he could not appear before the courts in Balochistan because he felt Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Mohammad Aslam Raisani was out to harm him due to an old enmity between the Raisani and Rind tribes. Rind stated that so far, 200 people have been killed due to the hostility between the two tribes, claiming that this was the reason he was unwilling to go to Balochistan.
Balochistan Advocate General Amanullah Kinrani stated that if Rind could contest elections from Balochistan, then why he could not appear before the provincial courts.
The court also issued notices to Raisani and other complainants to hear their stance in this regard.
Rind’s second counsel, Justice (Retd) Tariq Mahmood, told the Supreme Court that cases of keeping weapons illegally and attempted murder were also filed against his client. He said that Rind requested that he could not appear before the court in Balochistan and that the hearings should be conducted elsewhere.
However, CJ Chaudhry asked Mahmood to present any provision and precedent under which the cases should be shifted from one province to another. The chief justice also remarked that everybody was equal in the eyes of the law and without any such provision and precedent, cases could not be shifted.
The court later adjourned the case for November 19.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 6th, 2012.
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