ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court (ATC), hearing Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s petition, seeking his production in three cases registered against him, on Monday directed the prosecution to produce the record of three cases before it on October 24.
The ATC judge Abul Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain, while hearing the cases against Khan, directed the prosecution to present a record of two cases registered at Khanna police station and one in Barakahu police station till October 24.
The legal team for the former premier including Barrister Salman Safdar, Naeem Haider Panjutha as well as prosecutor Javeed Naveed appeared before the court. At the onset of the hearing, Safdar requested the court to issue the production order for PTI chief as the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has already restored his client bail application.
In these cases, production of the accused before the court is mandatory, he said, adding that if the court thinks that the production orders for the accused could not be issued for today, it should be ordered for tomorrow (October 17.)
He further said that it was the responsibility of the jail authorities to present his client before the court and now it was up to them to bring him in a helicopter, airplane, or Armored Personnel Carrier (APC). Other court rejected his client’s bail after this court had dismissed Khan’s bail plea, he said.
Objecting to Khan’s lawyer’s plea prosecutor Javeed Naveed told the court that in the past, the accused was not appearing before the court due to security reasons. He requested the court to decide the petition after summing the security report from the concerned department.
He said that two first information reports (FIR) had been registered in the past due to the appearance of the PTI chief in the court.
Safdar said that the prosecution has come with a pela that his client has security concerns, adding “the prosecution is repeating our stance regarding security concerns,” he said, adding that the prosecution repeatedly stated in different hearings in the past to present Khan otherwise his bail would be rejected.
The judge said that “where is the record of these cases.” To this, the prosecutor said that the record would be presented in next hearing.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023