Daily Times

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) ordered the IG Islamabad police on Monday to present Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry before the court today (Tuesday).

Fawad was apprehended by the police last week as he emerged from the Supreme Court building, where he had sought refuge for over 12 hours in an attempt to evade his impending arrest.

He had arrived at the court earlier that day to file a petition challenging the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) order giving legal cover to party chief Imran Khan’s arrest. Shortly after, law enforcement authorities reached the court, and waited to detain him. Despite having remained inside the apex court throughout the day, he was eventually taken into custody late in the evening.

In the application, it was argued that there had been a genuine risk of Fawad being taken into custody as well. In a bid to strengthen his case, the PTI leader had also filed a civil miscellaneous petition along with Imran Khan’s appeal, stating that he had obtained protective bail from the IHC until May 12.

During the course of Fawad’s stay in the SC building, police officials had maintained a presence outside, patiently awaiting his departure. Upon finally exiting the premises at approximately 11:30 pm, Chaudhry was promptly arrested by the waiting officers.

IHC Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb presided over Monday’s proceedings as Fawad’s brother and legal counsel Faisal Chaudhry presented his arguments. He stressed before the judge that Fawad had been arrested in spite of having secured bail from the high court.

“The police had been informed [of the interim bail] but they did not obey court orders,” argued the lawyer. A copy of IHC CJ Aamer Farooq’s earlier orders was also presented before the court.

“IG Islamabad was present in the courtroom when this order was issued,” he added.

The court went on to issue notices to IG Islamabad and the district magistrate. The latter has been directed to present the court record.

The IHC heard petitions challenging the detention of PTI leaders including Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Senator Ejaz Chaudhry, Musarrat Jamshed Cheema and Maleeka Bokhari among others.

Barrister Faiza Asad represented the PTI leaders in court, arguing that several of them suffered from medical issues.

The court ordered the jail administration to allow the legal teams and family members of the arrested PTI leaders to meet them.