Zubair Qureshi Islamabad
The Islamabad district and sessions court on Friday directed Islamabad police to shift PTI leader Shahbaz Gill to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences for another medical examination.
The court issued the directives as it suspended till Monday the handing over of Gill to police for the completion of his two-day physical remand that was approved on Wednesday.
The court concluded that the remand time started Friday morning when the PTI leader was handed over to police by hospital authorities.
Gill, who has been arrested in connection with the FIR registered against him for allegedly inciting mutiny among armed forces, was produced before Judicial Magistrate Raja Farrukh Ali Khan earlier Friday.
During the hearing, police applied for extension in the PTI leader’s physical remand for another eight days.
The judicial magistrate noted that the court had previously granted the police two-day physical remand of Gill. “Why are you making a request for eight days?” he questioned.
The judge also questioned whether the previous physical remand remained “uninitiated”. “Was the earlier two-day remand technically uninitiated? Were police able to investigate during the two days’ time?”
The judge also asked police to clarify whether they were asking for a new remand or seeking an extension of the previous one.
While presenting his arguments, Gill’s lawyer, Advocate Faisal Chaudhry, contended before the court that his client’s illness was there for everyone to see.
“His issue is genuine,” he said, adding that his medical report also pointed towards the fact that he was tortured. “You can see. Gill has been presented before the court in a wheelchair and along with an oxygen cylinder,” the lawyer said.
Advocate Chaudhry contested the police’s plea for Gill’s custody, saying that extending the PTI leader’s physical remand would endanger his life.
After reading out the Islamabad High Court’s order on Gill’s physical remand — in which the matter of Gill’s remand was referred back to the trial court — the lawyer said the prosecution had given assurances that Gill would be kept in the hospital till Monday.
The lawyer further argued that according to the remand papers submitted by police, they were admitting that Gill’s two-day remand had finished.
He was taken to court in an ambulance from Pims, where he was shifted late on Wednesday night after he complained of breathing problems amid reports of him being subjected to torture while in police custody.
