LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Monday asked the Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) to submit his reply to a petition of former federal minister Fawad Chaudhry seeking details of the cases registered against him within a day.
Meanwhile an Anti Terrorism Court allowed pre-arrest bail to Fawad Chaudhry in four cases of May 9 riots.
The court restrained the police from arresting the former minister till April 20 and summoned record of the cases.
Earlier, court summoned the IGP on a short notice and warned a law officer that the court did not want a “TikTok” presentation from the police chief.
The law officer told the court that as many as 40 cases had been registered against the petitioner.
The court asked the law officer as to why no investigation was conducted in the cases during the four-month.
The court asked whether any action had been taken against the police officials involved in delaying the investigation.
Being dissatisfied with the law officer’s assistance, the court asked the law officer to bring the IGP to the court within ten minutes.
The court asked the IGP when appeared to explain why the investigating officers failed to investigate the petitioner in the jail.
The IGP said various cases were registered against the petitioner in different locations hence there were certain legal requirements for conducting an investigation.
The IGP defended the neutrality of the police when asked about the efforts made by the investigators and added that the petitioner was acquitted in some cases where found innocent.
The court also questioned why there were six FIRs filed on the same day.
The IGP replied, “My Lord, please hear me out, we have formed various JITs.”
The court asked the IGP not to make such statements and submit a detailed report as why no investigation was conducted while the petitioner was in jail.
The IGP at this said his team would present the reply to the court as he needed to go to the Katcha area to monitor an ongoing operation against dacoits on Tuesday (today).
The court, however, directed the IGP to submit the reply personally.
Former Federal Minister Fawad Chaudhry said the decision about his politics was to be made by the PTI founder.
Responding to media queries in the high court, former Federal Minister Fawad Chaudhry said, the decision about his politics was to be made by the PTI former Chairman and added “Whatever he says, I will do.”
He said “We have chosen the difficult path”.
Fawad said bitterness cannot be increased in the country during the current situation and added bitter words were not beneficial for Pakistan.
He said whether the bitterness was between the establishment or political parties, it needed to be reduced.
Fawad questioned how a conducive environment for dialogue can be created keeping Imran Khan in jail.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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