Fawad Chaudhry, head of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), dodged arrest minutes after his release, when police attempted to apprehend him as he was leaving the Islamabad High Court (IHC). Fawad had just sat in his car after obtaining bail from IHC when he noticed Anti-Terrorist Squad agents approaching him.
As soon as he noticed the cops approaching him, the PTI leader jumped out of his car and into the IHC grounds to avoid arrest. He is presently back in the courtroom with his attorneys.
Fawad Chaudhry was ordered released by the court – he came out and police tried to arrest to him again – and he ran back inside pic.twitter.com/2jEtAQ6gXt
— omar r quraishi (@omar_quraishi) May 16, 2023
Surprisingly, the police moved to arrest the PTI leader notwithstanding his submission at the IHC of an undertaking not to violate Section 144 and to take appropriate action..
Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb’s court handed the orders to release the PTI leaders while hearing separate petitions.
Islamabad Advocate General Barrister Jahangir Jadoon stood before the single-judge bench during Fawad Chaudhry’s hearing.
The court then inquired as to who had suggested that the arrest may be done under MPO.
In response to the court’s inquiry, the AG stated that no one had informed them, but they were ignorant of the court order prohibiting arrest.
The government counsel then produced a May 10 tweet by Fawad, claiming it was a video of the PTI leader pushing workers to join the protests.
According to the government counsel, Fawad had claimed in a tweet that it was permissible for PTI employees to participate in rallies following Imran Khan’s imprisonment.
On this point, Babar Awan said that the deputy commissioner must have been aware of the high court’s arrest order by now. He begged the court to grant an extension.
“I want to place some facts before the court,” he said, informing the court that the copy of the court’s order was not given to the IG office and law officers. He added that the biometric verification of the PTI leader was also not done on the petition.
The judge scolded the lawyer, stating that he was not the judge and that it was the court’s responsibility to determine if the biometrics had been completed..
The AG then claimed that Fawad Chaudhry had not been arrested in any case. If the arrest had been undertaken as part of a case, he would have had to appear in court.
Barrister Jadoon further contended that Fawad’s actions have to demonstrate whether he is a peaceful citizen or not. He went on to say that the May 9 occurrences cost the country billions of dollars.
At this point, Justice Aurangzeb pointed out that the court had not banned the authorities from taking action in response to the occurrences.
However, Jadoon stated that the court, in delaying Imran Khan’s arrest, specifically referenced the MPO. He noted that if they had merely ceased arresting in instances, the arrest might have been done under MPO.
The court then asked if the police had shown any documents to the PTI leader at the time of his arrest.
“When the order was read, the police officer said he did not know English,” said Awan. He added that his client was arrested based on material that does not exist.
To this assertion by the PTI lawyer, Justice Aurangzeb responded that the incidents that occurred after Imran Khan’s arrest should be taken seriously.
“Fawad Chaudhry is an important person, a former federal minister, does he not know the mob of Pakistan?” asked Justice Aurangzeb.
“When Fawad asked people to come out did he expect only law-abiding citizens to come out?”
“If the district magistrate does not pass this [detention] order on the matter then what should be done?” asked Justice Aurangzeb. He further added that the court had summoned Fawad so that he could be released.
“It had not seen the material shared by the advocate general today.”
The court had then reserved the verdict.
