PTI Leader Shehryar Afridi granted two-day physical remand by sessions court
Background
PTI leader Shehryar Afridi was arrested on May 16 from his Islamabad residence under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) Ordinance, 1960, which enables the government to arrest any person. He was arrested in relation to the May 9 riots. On May 30, he was rearrested shortly after his release from a Rawalpindi prison under the same MPO law, with the city police officer accusing Afridi of “instigating, planning to organise unlawful assembly/commit violence, deliver unlawful speeches to cause damage to human life and public/private properties”.
Despite the Islamabad High Court (IHC) overruling his detention orders on June 6, Afridi was being kept in a death cell at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, following which the IHC warned the capital police officials of contempt proceedings.
The Trial
Judge Naveed Khan presided over the hearing on Saturday while Advocate Sher Afzal Marwat appeared as Afridi’s counsel. At the outset of the hearing, the investigation officer sought Afridi’s five-day physical remand. Afridi’s counsel objected to the request, stating that his videos were obtained from social media and hence, a photogrammetric test was not needed.
Afridi’s family was allowed to meet him in the courtroom. During the hearing, Afridi came on the rostrum and expressed his emotional state. He lamented that he was not allowed to attend his brother’s funeral. Afridi recalled that he had given lectures in universities and colleges on patriotism. He argued that it was his Constitutional right to protest and that he had not taken the law into his own hands.
The judge subsequently reserved his verdict on the matter, which he announced later by granting the police a two-day physical remand of Afridi.
Afridi denies involvement in Rana Sanaullah’s arrest
Responding to questions if he would be “holding a press conference” — a reference to leaving the PTI — Afridi averted giving a direct answer. Upon being asked by a reporter if the current government was avenging the 2019 arrest of incumbent Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah during the previous PTI government — when Afridi was the state minister for interior — the PTI leader denied the allegations of him being behind Sanaullah’s arrest.
“The head of the Anti-Narcotics Force is [a] major [or] general. ANF had arrested him on the basis of intelligence reports. They had all the [evidence] against Rana Sanaullah,” Afridi asserted.
On the matter of numerous party leaders leaving the PTI, he said, “Will not say anything about those who left the party and went. Only God knows the circumstances under which they left the party and the reasons behind it. These testing times come [in life]. May God make us all esteemed and give strength to remain steadfast,” he added.
