LHC bench headed by Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh rejects PTI plea to stop JIT from working in rioting cases

LAHORE, April 05 (SABAH): The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday turned down a petition filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), seeking an immediate order to stop a joint investigation team (JIT) from probe in cases against the party leaders over alleged murder of Ali Bilal alias Zille Shah, attack on police officials and riots outside the Zaman Park residence of the party chief last month.

LHC’s two-member bench headed by Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh and comprising Justice Farooq Haider, heard the petition and issued notices to the Punjab government, the Home Department and other parties in the case. The high court has also directed the parties to submit their written replies and adjourned the hearing till April 10.

Earlier in the day, as many as 11 PTI leaders, including Imran Khan and Fawad Chaudhry, had filed a petition through their lawyers Sikandar Zulqarnain and Zafar Iqbal Mangan.

The PTI bigwigs argued that police had registered 10 baseless and fake cases against them, adding that the Punjab home secretary made the JIT on the directives of the provincial government. They said they were totally unaware of details of the cases registered against them.

They contended that they had evidence and witnesses in the case related to death of Zille Shah and pleaded the high court to void the notification regarding constitution of the investigation team.

The development comes a day after the JIT summoned Imran Khan, Fawad Chaudhry, Hammad Azhar, Ejaz Chaudhry, Musarrat Jamshed Cheema, Farrukh Habib, Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed, Mian Aslam Iqbal, Dr Yasmin Rashid and others to record their statements in the cases. All the leaders were asked to appear before it on Wednesday at the Lahore CCPO office.

Last time, no PTI leader, except Asad Umar, appeared before the JIT when they were called to record the statement.

SSP Imran Kishwar has been appointed convener of the six-member JIT whereas SP Aftab Phulawan is also part of it. Three members of the team belong to the Intelligence Bureau, the Inter-Services Intelligence and the Military Intelligence.

The cases against the PTI leaders are registered at the Racecourse and Shadman police stations.