Islamabad court dismisses bail pleas of Shah Mahmood, Asad Umar in May 9 cases

An Islamabad district and sessions court on Tuesday dismissed the bail pleas of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Shah Mahmood Qureshi, and Asad Umar in a case pertaining to May 9 vandalism.

Qureshi and Umar hurriedly walked out of the court and left the premises in their vehicles after the judgement was announced.

None of the them has been arrested yet.

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Earlier, Judge Tahir Abbasi Supra took up the bail pleas of Umar and Qureshi today, along with that of another suspect, Khan Bahadur, all three of whom were booked in a case registered at Islamabad’s Tarnol police station on the complaint of Sub-Inspector Murtaza Qamar.

During the hearing, the court order said, the counsel for the petitioners argued that his clients were “innocent” and “falsely involved” in this case on the “basis of a concocted story”.

He contended that the case against them was a result of “mala fide” and an “ulterior motive on part of the complainant and police”.

The case against them “is one of further probe and inquiry”, the counsel insisted, adding that the offences against their clients did not fall under the prohibitory clause of Section 497 (when bail may be taken in cases of non-bailable offence) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

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On these grounds, he prayed the court to accept the bail pleas so that ad-interim pre-arrest bail already granted to their clients may be confirmed.

Public Prosecutor Zahid Asif Chaudhry, contested the counsel’s arguments and sought the dismissal of bail pleas, the court order said.

After hearing arguments of both sides, the court reserved the judgement on the pleas, which was announced at 3pm.

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“I have a flight to catch at 4pm, and now I it seems I will have to book another flight,” Umar replied, seeking permission to leave early.

But the judge told him that he needed to be in court at the time of the announcement of the judgement.