Staff Report
LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh on Wednesday scrapped the petition for the recovery of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Fawad Chaudhry and stated that “the arrest is not unlawful”.
The law enforcement agencies shifted Fawad Chaudhry to a lower court in Islamabad. The law enforcement agencies (LEAs) also submitted the FIR of Chaudhry’s arrest to LHC.
Meanwhile, Inspector General (IG) Punjab Police Dr Usman Anwar told the court that Fawad Chaudhry was in the custody of Islamabad Police.
The court resumed the hearing of the case pertaining to the arrest of the PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry.
Fawad Chaudhry’s counsel said that “instead of presenting the PTI leader in court, the law enforcement agencies took him out of the city, violating the court’s orders.”
LHC orders police to present Fawad Chaudhry
Earlier, the LHC bench had postponed the case hearing and directed law enforcement to present Fawad Chaudhry. It also summoned IG Punjab Police and IG Islamabad Police.
Fawad Chaudhry was arrested early on Wednesday morning from his residence in Lahore for remarks made against the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). He was shifted to Lahore’s Cantt, where the judicial magistrate granted his transit remand to the police to transfer him to Islamabad.
But later, the LHC ordered the police to present the PTI leader in Lahore.
During a hearing of the case, LHC’s Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh ordered authorities to present Chaudhry by 1:30 pm. When the hearing resumed, the LHC bench inquired about the PTI leader, to which Punjab Advocate General Chaudhry Muhammad Jawad Yaqub replied that he was not in a position to say where Fawad Chaudhry was.
The court said even if Fawad Chaudhry has reached Islamabad, he should be brought back and presented before the court.
