ATC allows Mirza to go abroad for wife’s treatment

Karachi
Anti-Terrorism Court-I (ATC-I) accepted a request of former home minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza on Thursday and exempted him from appearance for three weeks in three cases for going abroad for the treatment of his ailing wife.
Judge Bashir Ahmed Khoso did not agree with Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Muhammad Khan Buriro, who asked him to dismiss Mirza’s request on the grounds that no provision of law empowered the court to grant such permission at a stage when it had not yet heard case.
Buriro told The News that being aggrieved by the court order, he would challenge its ruling in the Sindh High Court. Another SPP, Mubashir Mirza, also opposed Mirza’s plea. Buriro said the defendant’s attorney, Ashraf Sammon, had not bothered to properly file affidavits and a simple application was moved which was not maintainable.
He referred to sections 205, 352 and 540 of the Criminal Procedure Code, saying that no provision of law empowered a court to grant exemption to any accused from appearance while the accused had yet faced investigations.
A sessions court has already allowed Mirza to travel abroad for three weeks for the treatment of his wife and former National Assembly speaker Dr Fahmida Mirza Mirza, a disgruntled and disowned leader of the Pakistan People’s Party, along with his associates, has been booked in several cases in Karachi, Badin and Hyderabad.
One of his attorneys, Shaikh Jawaid Mir, had approached a sessions court and sought permission for his client to visit the United States. The sessions court is hearing a case against him pertaining to standing on an armoured personnel carrier of police and delivering a speech allegedly threatening police officers after appearing before an ATC on May 9.
The applicant’s counsel said his client was willing to proceed to the US along with his wife since her doctor advised her to go there as soon as possible for her treatment. He further said Mirza was the only one to look after his wife during her treatment, and asked the court to grant him permission for three weeks to travel abroad.
District and Sessions Judge (south) Ahmed Saba had allowed the application and observed that the counsel relied upon the recommendation letter of the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation issued by Dr Adibul Hasan Rizvi. The sessions court has already granted interim bail to Mirza till June 13.
Miza has moved an application in ATC-III, headed by Saleem Raza Baloch, but on Thursday the judge of this court was on leave and the application could not be entertained. In ATC-III, Mirza is facing one case lodged at the Darakhshan police station.