LAHORE: The Sessions Court on Wednesday extended interim pre-arrest bail of some PML-N MPAs and leaders till September 19 in a case relating to violence in the Punjab Assembly on the day of election of the chief minister (April 16).
The court directed the applicants to join the investigation. The court also directed the police to submit a report on next hearing.
MPAs Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan, Saiful Malook, Rukhsana Kausar, Mirza Javed, Khizar Khagha, Raja Sagheer Ahmad, Ghulam Habib Awan, Awais Leghari, Mian Rauf and Prime Minister`s Special Assistant Attaullah Tarar appeared before the court.
Their counsel Rana Asadullah Khan represented the MPAs and argued that the police implicated the petitioners in the case at the behest of the sitting government in the province.
He said the police declared all the MPAs of the PTI and PML-Q innocent in the same case despite the availability of video evidence against them. Qilla Gujjar Singh police had registered a case against the MPAs of PTI and PML-Q and staff of the assembly on charges of resorting to violence during the election of the Chief Minister, wherein Hamza Shehbaz emerged victorious against Parvez Elahi.
The MPAs of the coalition government were also charged for manhandling then deputy speaker Dost Muhammad Mazari. Several MPAs of the PTI and PML-Q besides staff of the Assembly, including then Secretary Muhammad Khan Bhatti, had secured pre-arrest bail from the court in the case.
After the victory of Elahi in a run-off election for the Chief Minister, police changed direction of investigation towards the MPAs of PML-N and started summoning them.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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