ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday directed Islamabad Police Inspector General Akbar Nasir Khan to resubmit his reply in the contempt case regarding the arrest of former minister Shireen Mazari.
IHC’s Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb expressed his dissatisfaction over the reply submitted by the Islamabad police chief, who along with his lawyer Zahid Asif appeared before the court.
The counsel said the IGP had submitted his reply at the hearing. No police official was present in the courtroom when the IHC issued order stopping the police to arrest Dr Mazari, he said.
Justice Aurangzeb noted that the police chief, in his reply, had expressed ignorance about the court’s order, and also stated that even his subordinates were not aware of it.
The reply further said that the Rawalpindi police had arrested Mazari on the order of the deputy commissioner and the capital police assisted them because of their ignorance about the court orders.
The Islamabad police stated that he could not even think of disobeying the court orders. The petitioner had also not claimed that Mazari had provided the copy of court orders to the police. He prayed to the court to terminate the contempt of court case against the Islamabad police chif.
Justice Miangul Hassan remarked that an impression was given that the Islamabad police gave priority to the orders of the Rawalpindi deputy commissioner over the court’s order.
The court noted that its orders were showed to the police at the time of arrest of Mazari, which, however, preferred the orders of the deputy commissioner.
The police chief said he would protect his officers as they were not aware of the court’s orders.
Justice Miangul Hassan expressed annoyance over the IGP’s reply and directed him to re-submit his comments.
“Who will protect the rights of citizens if this court does not do that? The Islamabad police should have stopped the Rawalpindi police when order of the court was in place,” the judge said.
Petitioner’s lawyer Zainab Janjua said they had showed the court orders to the police and they had complete video recording of the arrest of Shireen Mazari.
The court again instructed the Islamabad police chief to resubmit his reply and adjourned the hearing till June 22.
