Zubair Qureshi Islamabad
The Islamabad High Court on Wednesday rejected Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Irfan Nawaz Memon’s unconditional apology and barred him from going abroad.
The court issued these orders while hearing a contempt case against the District Magistrate of the federal capital regarding PTI leader Shehryar Afridi’s arrest under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order. Afridi despite the bail from the court was kept in detention under several MPO orders.
Justice Babar Sattar while hearing the case against the DC Islamabad and Senior Superintendent of Police Operations Malik Jameel Zafar in abuse of power expressed his displeasure over the ‘casual’ attitude of the senior bureaucrat as he had been skipping the court appearance.
Earlier, at the outset of the case hearing, Memon apologized to the court seeking its mercy.
However the judge observed that the senior bureaucrat would face the consequences. DC Memon’s counsel Raja Rizwan Abbasi argued that as per the district intelligence committee’s reports, PTI’s Afridi was planning protests while in jail. He said the MPO orders were issued based on those reports, which included observations from the representatives of the ISI, IB, MI, 111 Brigade, and police representatives.
Justice Sattar remarked that despite the judicial observation/direction constraining any more MPO order on the said report, the officer issued the order which is unacceptable and in violation of the court orders. The detention orders under MPO were only stopped after the court suspended the powers of these officials, the judge remarked.
He added that other benches too declared nearly 40 MPO orders void. The court ordered the DC to submit a reply to another show cause notice issued to him by Monday (February 26) and announced to pass judgment on the case next week.
The IHC on Jan 26, 2024 had temporarily restored the power of the federal capital’s DC to issue directives under Section 3 MPO.
