Daily Times

Irfan Siddiqui, a close aide to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, on Monday approached Islamabad High Court (IHC) to seek withdrawal of the First Information Report (FIR) registered against him by the Islamabad police under Section 188 of Pakistan Panel Code (PPC).

In an application, Siddiqui made SHO Ramna Police Station, District Magistrate Islamabad, Assistant Commissioner Ramna Sub-division and the state as respondent parties.

He prayed the court that under the said section the FIR may be quashed, adding that till the final disposal of the instant petition operation of the impugned FIR or any other proceeding should be suspended.

Later in last month, Siddiqui was arrested in a raid at his residence in the federal capital for not informing police while renting out his house under the tenancy law and was shifted to the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) police station after being kept at the Ramna Police Station of Islamabad for some time. He was produced before a magistrate in handcuffs and was later granted bail.

According to FIR, the case was registered against Siddiqui under Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the PPC on a complaint filed by a police officer.

In the application, Siddiqui informed the IHC that the police arrested him on the basis of FIR having no legal grounds and not it contains the factual allegations against him.

“The house he had been suspected of renting out did not belong to Siddiqui, but that it was owned by his son Imran Siddiqui. A ‘certificate of plinth verification’ of the house located in Sector G-10/3 issued by the Capital Development Authority was also available, showing that the property in question was owned by Imran Khawar Siddiqui,” Siddiqui contented in the plea.

The police handcuffed me, he recalled, publically which was a big humiliation for me as an eminent educationist and journalist having renowned award ‘Hilal-e-Imtiaz’.

He further said that that even in case of any violation and order passed under Section 144 of CrPC, if the same culprit under the section 188 of PPC even on such eventually no court can take cognizance of offence under s 188, except on complainant in writing of public servant concerned or any other officers to whom he is subordinate, needless to maintain here that the term complainant has specifically defined and purposely the report of the police has been excluded from domain of complaint.

Siddiqui said that the police arrested and humiliated him publicly at the behest of some influential political figures.

He said that the intension behind arrest was to crush and victimize their political opponents purely on political considerations, adding that they used clouts and abused their authority.

“The object of good governance can’t be achieved by exercising any power unreasonably and arbitrarily and without application of mind. Such objectives can only be achieved by following rules of justness, fairness and openness in consonance with command of constitution,” he maintained, adding that once it is accepted that the constitution is the supreme law of the country, no room is left to allow any authority to depart of any provision of the law.