In court: ATC reserves judgement on Mirza’s bail plea

The lawyer for the state said that Mirza still considers himself the home minister.

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) reserved on Saturday its order on bail confirmation of former provincial home minister Zulfiqar Mirza in the Darakhshan police station’s case till June 10 after hearing arguments from both the sides.

The disgruntled leader of Pakistan Peoples Party was booked in mid-May for threatening and harassing police personnel as he went to the Darakhshan police station to recordi his statement on court orders. Since the registration of the case, the accused remained on bail as he approached the Sindh High Court the very next day, seeking protection from being arrested. When the ATC-III put up the case for hearing for the fourth time after extending the suspect's bail twice, the defence and prosecution sides came face-to-face to submit their contentions.

Defence lawyer Javed Mir, representing Mirza, argued that his client was falsely implicated in the case on the instigation of his rivals enjoying high-level positions in the Sindh government. "When Mirza went to the Darakhshan police station, he was escorted by only five to six persons including his attorneys," he maintained before the judge. According to him, there were unusual security measures at the police station as snipers were positioned on its rooftops and a heavy contingent was deployed outside.

"If Mirza had threatened any law enforcer, he would have been arrested. But he was not because the case was registered just to put hurdles in his way to seek justice," he said.

On the other hand, the counsel representing the state, Muhammad Khan Burero, submitted that Mirza still considers himself as the incumbent home minister. "He is challenging the writ of the state by possessing a private militia," he said.

The judge, Saleem Raza Baloch, listening to both the sides, reserved his verdict on confirming Mirza's bail till the next hearing on June 10.

Meanwhile, he was also granted an extension in bail in four other cases registered against him earlier this month at a Badin police station by the ATC-I until the same date.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 31^st, 2015.