PTI leader was arrested in land grabbing case; Court asks authorities to return phone to her
The Islamabad High Court Saturday night ordered the federal government to carry out a judicial inquiry related to the arrest of former federal minister and senior PTI leader Shireen Mazari.
The ex-minister was presented in Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Athar Minallah’s court as the judge had earlier ordered to produce Mazari before him at 11:30pm after her daughter Imaan Zainab Mazari filed a plea against her mother’s arrest.
The Chief Justice, noting that the arrest was apparently “illegal”, ordered the immediate release of Mazari and asked the authorities to return the ex-federal minister’s phone to her.
Speaking to journalists before entering the courtroom, Mazari said: “I still did not get my phone back.”
The ex-federal minister claimed that the police did not show her the arrest warrants before taking her into custody, adding that she believes PML-N, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah were behind her arrest.
At the outset of the hearing, Inspector-General Islamabad Muhammad Ahsan Younas told the court that he assumed office on Saturday.
The Chief Justice told the inspector-general that no member of the National Assembly, belonging to the PTI, has been de-notified yet and the court has already issued a directive that no MNA should be arrested before informing the NA speaker.
“There is one Constitution and the court runs on that Constitution […] the IG will have to take responsibility; I cannot say that the [court’s] registrar is responsible,” the Chief Justice said.
Moving on, Attorney-General Islamabad The Chief Justice told the inspector-general that no member of the National Assembly, belonging to the PTI, has been de-notified yet and the court has already issued a directive that no MNA should be arrested before informing the NA speaker. “There is one Constitution and the court runs on that Constitution […] the IG will have to take responsibility; I cannot say that the [court’s] registrar is responsible,” the Chief Justice said. Moving on, Attorney-General Islamabad Barrister Jahangir Khan Jadoon told the IHC that the “federal government was not aware of the matter.” In response, the Chief Justice said how could police from any province come to the capital and arrest people.
The attorney general told the IHC that the Punjab anti-corruption department had arrested Mazari in coordination with the capital’s police.
Chief Justice Minallah said to date, the case of journalist Matiullah Jan has not been resolved. “The court will not tolerate such incidents in its jurisdiction […] tell me, who will probe this case?”
The attorney-general told the court that if the prerequisite legal requirements were not fulfilled in the arrest of Mazari, then action will be taken against those responsible. The attorney-general further said that if the prerequisite legal requirements were not fulfilled in the arrest of Mazari, then action will be taken against those responsible. He added that once the government got to know about the arrest, they ordered her immediate release.
“If an arrest was made in a case, then how was an order made for her release?” the Chief Justice said.
For her part, Mazari’s daughter told the court that she wanted a judicial inquiry to be initiated to probe her mother’s arrest. The attorney-general Islamabad also told the court that the ex-minister had resigned from the assembly. At this, the Chief Justice said that although she has resigned, the speaker had not yet de-notified her.
“In the past MNAs have been arrested who are still in custody […] the political leadership should sit down and ponder over this matter,” Justice Minallah said, terming Mazari’s arrest “unfortunate”.
The ex-minister told the court that she believes PM Shehbaz and Sanaullah are behind her arrest. In response, Justice Minallah said during the “your government, bigger incidents took place, this will happen when you don’t respect the constitution.”
