Daily Times

A sessions court in Islamabad sent PTI leader Asad Qaiser on judicial remand on Saturday, a day after he was taken into custody in an alleged corruption case, a private TV channel reported.

The PTI leader was arrested on Friday from the capital during a raid on his residence jointly carried out by the Anti Corruption Establishment (ACE) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad police.

On Saturday, the Islamabad police brought him before Judicial Magistrate Qudratullah, seeking judicial remand for the PTI leader. Station House Officer of the Bani Gala Police Station, Ashfaq Warraich, requested the court to grant judicial remand to allow ACE officials to take Qaiser into custody for further inquiry.

Qaiser’s lawyer, Shoaib Shaheen, questioned the “haste” of the capital police to make an arrest in a case that, according to him, fell outside their jurisdiction. The lawyer pointed out that the arrest of the PTI leader occurred immediately after the announcement of an election date and claimed that it was motivated by political vendetta. He further informed the court that his client frequently travelled to KP, where the ACE team had never detained him. The lawyer expressed his intention to file a protective bail plea on behalf of his client.

In response, the court clarified that protective bail could not be granted at this stage. After hearing the arguments, the court placed the PTI leader under judicial remand and instructed the ACE KP to conclude the legal proceedings against Qaiser within a week. It is pertinent to mention that top PTI leadership, including its chairman and vice-chairman Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi, respectively are also behind bars in the same facility for their jail trial in the cipher case. Qasier’s arrest comes as a major setback for the party as the veteran politician could’ve played a key role in “reconciliation” efforts in light of his meeting with Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman last month.