PTI founder Imran Khan petitioned the Lahore High Court (LHC) against an anti-terrorist court’s (ATC) order to grant his 10-day physical remand for investigation over his alleged involvement in violence on May 9.
Countrywide protests erupted on May 9 last year after the paramilitary Rangers whisked away Imran from the Islamabad High Court in a corruption case. While the protests were underway, social media was flooded with footage of rioting and vandalism at various spots, including the Lahore Corps Commander’s residence and General Headquarters, the army’s head office in Rawalpindi.
A 13-member team of the Lahore police’s investigation wing had visited Adiala Jail on Saturday to quiz the former prime minister regarding the violence and arrested him in 12 out of the total 16 cases registered by the Lahore police over the May 9 attacks.
On Monday, a Lahore ATC granted police Imran’s 10-day physical remand in the 12 cases against a request for a 30-day remand.
Today, Imran submitted petitions, copies of which are available with Dawn.com, against the remand in the 12 cases through Barrister Salman Safdar, arguing that the ATC order be declared illegal, set aside, and that his custody be transferred from the police to judicial custody.
It said the ATC had passed its order after “misreading and non-reading of principles established on the law of remand”, adding that the governing law on the issue did not permit a court to grant remand of someone not produced before it.
“It is vital to mention that learned special judge ATC (I) has completely disregarded the emphasis laid down by the Supreme Court of Pakistan through salutary judgments that remand is not to be granted automatically after the police make such a request and remand order would be illegal if at the time of its passing, accused was not produced before the Court, which passed the remand order. The deliberate desecration of the settled principles speaks volumes about the illegality in the impugned order,” the petition pleaded.
It further argued that the remand was “unjustifiable” since the sole allegation against Imran was of abetment and conspiracy, adding that he was not required for the investigation since the first information reports were “wholly silent” about his specific role.
