-ATC rejects bail pleas of four lawyers
By Adnan Rafique
ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Islamabad on Friday sent four more lawyers arrested in connection with rioting at Islamabad High Court (IHC) premises and attempting to seize Chief Justice Block to judicial remand and sought complete record of the case from police in seven days.
The court also issued notice to police, seeking its reply in the petition filed by the lawyers, Muhammad Shoaib, Naveed Hayat Malik, Zafar Ali Warraich and Nazia Bibi, for their post-arrest bail. The lawyers, in their bail petition, had said that they were honourable members of the Islamabad Bar, and they had committed no crime, and that they had been implicated in a false case.
They further argued that since neither anything had been recovered from them as yet nor they had a criminal past, and the case was filed against them on political grounds. “So we pray to the court to release us on bail until the court gives its verdict in the case,†they added. Lawyers in Islamabad on Monday (February 8) had forcibly shut down district courts as well as the Islamabad High Court (IHC) as they went berserk over bulldozing of their chambers built on footpaths and parking areas by the capital administration. The protesting lawyers also barred the entry of litigants in the IHC premises besides bringing traffic on the adjacent Service Road to a halt. The situation became so tense that Deputy Commissioner (DC) Islamabad Hamza Shafqaat had to reach Islamabad High Court to monitor the situation. The lawyers also shouted slogans against IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah restricting the latter to his chamber.
Meanwhile, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Friday rejected bails of four lawyers named in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) attack case. Lawyers named in the IHC vandalism case, Naveed Malik, Chaudhry Zafar Ali, Sheikh Muhammad Shoaib and Nazia Bibi filed bail pleas in the court of ATC Judge Raja Jawad Abbas. The judgment was reserved after the initial hearing and was pronounced today by judge Raja Jawad Abbas. It is to be mentioned here that the aforesaid lawyers are currently on judicial remand. Earlier on Monday, the demolition of illegal chambers in district and sessions court in Islamabad had made lawyers furious who later stormed the Islamabad High Court (IHC) building and tortured police officials, staff and journalists.
A large number of protesting lawyers outside the building had hurled stones while raising slogans against the district administration and IHC chief justice. The lawyers had also tortured reporter of a private TV channel and his team members to stop the coverage of the incident. The outrageous crowd had tortured deputy registrar Chaudhry Shafiq after entering into his chamber after breaking the door and after managing to enter into the IHC CJ’s chamber, they pushed the IHC chief justice out of his chamber.
