LHC to hear petitions seeking PTI leaders’ release tomorrow
LAHORE, Feb 23 (SABAH): The Lahore High Court (LHC) was approached on Thursday for the release of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders arrested in connection with the ‘Jail Bharo Tehreek’.
PTI leaders Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, Azam Khan Swati and others had produced themselves before the police for the arrests on the other day. The police arrested nearly 90 activists on the launch of the movement.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s son Makhdoom Zain Hussain Qureshi filed a petition in Lahore High Court on Thursday that his father was illegally detained and his whereabouts were not known. The petition has sought the LHC’s intervention in the release of the PTI leader.
Justice Shahram Sarwar Chaudhry will hear the petitions of arrested PTI leaders tomorrow (Friday).
In his petition, Zain Qureshi appealed to the LHC to order authorities to produce his father — the PTI vice chairman — who is being kept in wrongful detention.
“Shah Mahmood was taken into custody yesterday and I am not being informed about his whereabouts.”
PTI Senator Ijaz Chaudhry also filed pleas for the recovery of at least eight PTI leaders — Asad Umar, Omar Sarfaraz Cheema, Senator Waleed Iqbal, Senator Swati, Dr. Murad Ras, Jaan Madni, Azam Niazi, and Ahsan Dogar.
Ijaz Chaudhry, in the petition, has made additional chief secretary (home), inspector general of Punjab (IG), and capital city police officer (CCPO) parties in the case.
The senator said that the IG and CCPO arrested PTI leaders from Mall Road, then transferred them to Camp Jail, and later on, they were taken to Kot Lakhpat Jail.
“The leaders are not even being provided medicines and food.” The petition further said that the leaders are being kept in wrongful detention. “To defame and hurt them, fake cases can be made against them.”
Ijaz Chaudhry said that there was no reason to keep them behind bars and urged the court to direct police to produce the leaders before the LHC and not resort to any illegal steps.
The senior leaders — Qureshi, Umar, and Swati, along with numerous party workers — had voluntarily surrendered themselves to the Lahore police.
The movement, according to the PTI rationale, aims to counter the “attack on constitutionally-guaranteed fundamental rights” and the “economic meltdown” by the incumbent government”.
PTI Lahore President Sheikh Imtiaz had claimed that 47 leaders and workers were arrested on Wednesday; however, police officials said that the number stood at around 80.
The PTI Central Media Cell claimed that those who courted arrest in Lahore included Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, Umar Sarfraz Cheema, Azam Swati, Muhammad Madni, Murad Rass, Ihsan Dogar, Siddique Khan, Azam Niazi, Abdul Wakeel, Shadi Khan, Gulfarm Virk, Muhammad Rehman, Hamed Ullah Khan, Mian Shahzad, Noran Sohail, Rana Manan, Chaudhry Zahid, Malik Sajid Prince, M Ahmad Bhatti, Shahzad Khokhar and Azhar Bhatti among other party’s central and provincial leaders as well as activists.