ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Tuesday granted protective bail to the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) MNA, Qadir Patel, in a case related to the treatment and facilitation of terror suspects.
A division bench of Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir heard the bail plea moved by the PPP member National Assembly.
After hearing the arguments, the IHC bench granted protective bail to Patel till April 13 and directed him to appear before the relevant court till then.
In this matter, Patel approached the IHC after the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC), Karachi issued his non-bailable arrest warrants. His lawyer informed the court that Patel could not appear before the ATC due to his political engagements.
The petitioner’s counsel argued that he was supposed to appear before the anti-terrorism court on March 26 but he could not attend the proceeding due to the session of the National Assembly.
He argued that the ATC, Karachi had issued his arrest warrants due to his non-appearance.
Therefore, he prayed before the court to grant him protective bail as there was a risk of his arrest.
The court accepted the request and granted bail till April 13.
The court also instructed the petitioner to appear before the ATC during the period.
Earlier, the ATC Karachi had issued non-bailable arrest warrants for his continuous absence from the case proceeding pertaining to providing health treatment to alleged terrorists.
The said case was registered against former PPP federal minister Dr Asim Hussain, Pak Sarzameen Party leader Anees Qaimkhani, PPP leader Qadir Patel, Muttahida leaders, Rauf Siddiqui and Waseem Akhtar, and Pasban leader Usman Moa’azam and they were nominated as co-accused for alleged facilitation of terrorists.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022