An Islamabad district and sessions court on Thursday rejected a second post-arrest bail plea filed by Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid after he challenged a judicial magistrate’s dismissal of his previous petition for bail. The Islamabad police had arrested the PTI loyalist on Feb 2 for allegedly making defamatory remarks against the PPP leadership after which the court remanded him to the police’s custody for two days.

Upon completion of his physical remand, an Islamabad court had on Feb 4 sent Rashid on 14-day judicial remand in the case filed at the city’s Aabpara Police Station, rejecting the police request for an extension in his physical remand. The same day, Rashid filed a post-arrest bail petition in the court, which was rejected on Feb 6.

The AML chief is currently in the custody of Murree police after they were granted a one-day transit remand by an Islamabad sessions court yesterday. A case was filed against him in Murree on Feb 3  On Thursday’s hearing was presided over by Additional Sessions Judge Tahir Abbas Supra while lawyers Sardar Abdul Raziq and Intizar Panjhota were representing Rashid.

Following the rejection of Rashid’s plea, his lawyers decided to approach the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to challenge the session court’s verdict. They said they would file another bail plea in the IHC once they receive the detailed order of today’s verdict. At the outset of the hearing, Rashid’s lawyer Raziq read out the first information report filed in the case: “‘Sheikh Rashid made the statement according to a planned conspiracy. He wants to create conflict between the PTI and the PPP.’”

“Prior to the FIR, a notice was sent by the police, about which we found out through the media. The IHC suspended that notice, yet an FIR was registered,” he argued. He added that the person who filed the case had asked for an investigation to be conducted about the conspiracy Rashid mentioned. The lawyer asserted, “The sections registered in the FIR could only be filed by the federal government or a provincial government, not by any citizen.”

He argued that no such statement was made about “any religious group, ethnic group, or a community” upon which those sections could be applied. Rashid’s counsel said that his client had only mentioned what PTI Chairman Imran Khan had talked about to him. “Imran Khan [also] made the statement [but] no action was taken against him.” He requested the court to accept the bail plea saying that only a defamation case could be filed by Zardari.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP