Daily Times

PTI founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against their arrest in the Toshakhana case.

On behalf of Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi, the application was filed in the IHC by Barrister Salman Safdar and Khalid Yusuf Chaudhry.

Chairman NAB, DG NAB and other officers have been made parties in the petition. The court is requested to declare the arrest illegal. It is also requested to issue orders for their release and to make the arrest subject to the orders of the High Court in the future.

According to the petition, Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi were arrested without warrant in fake cases for political revenge.

It was said in the petition that both the accused were arrested during the hearing of the petitions.

The political opponents are using NAB for political revenge, it said. The high courts have emphasized in their judgments that an arrest cannot be made merely on the filing of a case, the petition said.

It is further stated in the petition that there was an investigation involving Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi and that there was no need to arrest the PTI founder, Bushra Bibi immediately after the release in the Iddat case. There is also a violation of the orders of the High Court.

It should be noted that after the acquittal in the Iddat Nikah case on July 13, the National Accountability Bureau arrested the former PM and his wife in the new reference of Toshakhana.

Separately, PTI founder Imran Khan on Thursday petitioned the Lahore High Court (LHC) against an anti-terrorist court’s (ATC) order to grant his 10-day physical remand for investigation over his alleged involvement in violence on May 9.

A 13-member team of the Lahore police’s investigation wing had visited Adiala Jail on Saturday to quiz the former prime minister regarding the violence and arrested him in 12 out of the total 16 cases registered by the Lahore police over the May 9 attacks.

On Monday, a Lahore ATC granted police Imran’s 10-day physical remand in the 12 cases against a request for a 30-day remand.

Imran submitted petitions against the remand in the 12 cases through Barrister Salman Safdar, arguing that the ATC order be declared illegal, set aside, and that his custody be transferred from the police to judicial custody.

It said the ATC had passed its order after “misreading and non-reading of principles established on the law of remand”, adding that the governing law on the issue did not permit a court to grant remand of someone not produced before it.

“It is vital to mention that learned special judge ATC (I) has completely disregarded the emphasis laid down by the Supreme Court of Pakistan through salutary judgments that remand is not to be granted automatically after the police make such a request and remand order would be illegal if at the time of its passing, accused was not produced before the Court, which passed the remand order. The deliberate desecration of the settled principles speaks volumes about the illegality in the impugned order,” the petition pleaded.

It further argued that the remand was “unjustifiable” since the sole allegation against Imran was of abetment and conspiracy, adding that he was not required for the investigation since the first information reports were “wholly silent” about his specific role.

“That arrest of the petitioner is not required in the instant case and would further impair the ability of the petitioner to prepare an effective defence against the allegations. That there not exist any justification whatsoever to arrest the petitioner in the instant case,” the petition argued.

Imran also filed a separate petition against the Punjab government’s notification allowing his appearance in the ATC hearing through video link, saying that it was “ultra vires, illegal and unlawful”.

It pleaded that the notification be declared illegal and unlawful and all proceedings arising from it be declared “null and void in the interest of justice and fair play”.