PTI leader’s arrest on court premises: PHC initiates contempt proceedings against SHO

PESHAWAR: Issuing contempt of court notice to the station house officer of the East Cantonment Police Station, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Friday initiated contempt of court proceedings against him for arresting Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Aftab Alam Advocate from the court premises.

Hearing the habeas corpus petition against the arrest of the PTI leader from Kohat, Justice Shakeel Ahmad remarked that Pakistan is not a police state. “All the citizens have equal rights and how could the police arrest a lawyer from the court premises without any proof,” he remarked. Justice Waqar Ahmad observed that the Supreme Court had issued clear orders that nobody could be arrested from the premises of the court.

The two-member bench consisting of Justice Shakeel Ahmad and Justice Waqar Ahmad was hearing the petition against the arrest of the PTI leader Aftab Alam Advocate. The bench remarked that the Peshawar and the Kohat police had denied arresting the PTI leader so who had made the arrest.

During the hearing, Syed Sikandar Shah Advocate and Peshawar High Court Bar Association General Secretary Lajbar Khan appearing for the petitioner told the bench that Aftab Alam was arrested from the premises of the court despite the fact that he had secured bail in all the cases against him. The lawyers said that Aftab Alam was arrested illegally. The court stopped the hearing for a while and asked for the file of Aftab Alam, who was produced in the court by the police when the proceedings restarted. The counsel for the petitioner told the court that the police told him that Aftab Alam was on bail and he was arrested due to some misunderstandings.

Justice Shakeel Ahmad inquired Aftab Alam whether he was arrested from the court premises. He replied that he had been arrested from court premises. At this, Justice Waqar Ahmad asked the additional advocate general that why was a lawyer arrested from the court premises. Justice Shakeel Ahmad remarked that the Peshawar and the Kohat police had denied arresting the PTI leader so who had arrested him. The additional advocate general told the bench that the petitioner was on bail, but the police did not know it. Issuing a notice to the SHO concerned, the court adjourned the hearing until January 18.