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HDT leader Hidayat Ur Rehman out on bail after over four months

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  • SC grants bail against two surety bonds worth Rs300,000.
  • Rehman was arrested on January 13 on charges of murder.
  • Prosecutor was against bail, but SC refused his request.

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Thursday accepted the bail plea of Maulana Hidayat Ur Rehman, the head of Gwadar’s Haq Do Tehreek, and ordered his release.

Rehman, who is being released on bail after more than four months, was arrested from Gwadar on January 13 on charges of murder.

A three-member SC bench headed by Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and comprising Justice Amin Ud Din Khan and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar heard the case and granted bail against two surety bonds of Rs300,000.

During the course of proceedings, Advocate Kamran Murtaza, the counsel for Rehman, informed the court that the rights movement leader was arrested from court premises.

He said that his client had been incarcerated since December 2022. Upon this, Justice Tariq asked why did he not challenge the arrest from the court premises.

The counsel replied that at the time of Rehman’s arrest, such actions had not been declared illegal by the apex court, adding that the precedent was set following the arrest of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan.

The prosecutor general argued that Rehman should not be granted bail until the main accused was sent on judicial remand.

Yasir Ali, the accused who shot at the slain policeman Majid Johar, had been arrested, he added.

Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar asked if Rehman was accused of aiding and abetting the murder of a police officer. The counsel replied that the facts would be determined during the trial.

He said that his client’s movement was related to the provision of water for the people of Gwadar.

The court, after hearing arguments, rejected the request of the prosecutor general and granted bail to the HDT leader.

The arrest and protests

A heavy police contingent present outside a local court in Gwadar arrested the HDT leader and three others, including Naseeb Nosherwani and Hassan Murad, in January.

The HDT leader was nominated in the first information report (FIR) of the death of a police constable — Yasir Saeed — who was killed by unknown assailants on November 27 during a protest in Gwadar.

The police, in a statement, said a bullet hit the constable in the neck and he died on the spot. Following this, Balochistan Home Minister Ziaullah Langove ordered the police to register a case against the HDT leader.

The FIR, in which Rehman and others were nominated, alleged that the HDT leader provoked and incited people at the protest to pelt stones at government vehicles, following which the people threw stones and shattered the windowpanes of a police officer’s car.

The Gwadar protests, in which the unfortunate incident took place, had a wide range of demands and had been going on for two months under the HDT leadership.

The protestors were demanding a reduction in the number of check posts, easier border trade, and a total end to deep-sea fish trawling in the sea next to Gwadar.

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Imran Khan’s bail request in the Toshakhana-II case has had its objections dismissed.

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In the Toshakhana-II case, the Islamabad High Court has dismissed the objections to PTI founder Imran Khan’s bail request.

IHC instructed the registrar’s office to schedule the hearing for the case for Monday.

Imran Khan’s attorneys, Shaheena Shahab, Ayesha Khalid, and others, arrived in court today as IHC Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb heard the case.

The registrar’s objections to the plea were questioned by Justice Aurangzeb. In the Toshakhana-II case, Imran Khan submitted a bail application, according to counsel Ayesha Khalid.

Justice Miangul said that previous rulings in circumstances comparable to this one adhered to the consistency principle. In this instance, the petitioner was a man, he added.

Bushra Bibi was given bail because she was a woman, according to the justice, and an application like this one was denied yesterday.

Given that the case action date was November and the power of attorney was executed in July, Justice Aurangzeb raised a concern about the timing.

Justice requested the help of Advocate Shah Khawar in this case.

When an applicant was held in jail, Shah Khawar retorted that it was standard procedure to obtain signatures on required documents, such as a power of attorney.

Imran Khan’s attorney, Shaheena Shahab, asked the court to send out notices regarding the bail plea. A judge named Aurangzeb said that the law would be observed.

Following arguments, the court dismissed the registrar office’s objections and ordered that the case hearing be scheduled for Monday.

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PTI presents seven nominations to Imran Khan for the judicial commission.

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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has proposed seven individuals to its founder, Imran Khan, for consideration as founding members of PTI for membership in the next Judicial Commission.

None of the nominated individuals are attorneys; rather, the roster includes four Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) and three senators.

The proposed MNAs are Umar Ayub, Asad Qaiser, Ali Mohammad Khan, and Aamir Dogar, while the senators are Shibli Faraz, Mohsen Aziz, and Aun Abbas Bapi. Sources suggest that the Judicial Commission will include one opposition member from both the National Assembly and the Senate.

The PTI founder will evaluate and endorse two names from the suggested list, which will then be sent to the Speaker for future actions.

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Miller confirmed that Biden’s administration got a letter from a congressman requesting the release of the PTI founder.

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Following his removal as prime minister in 2022, Khan started a protest movement against a coalition of his enemies led by current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Since then, he has been in jail since August 2023 and has been involved in hundreds of cases.

In response to ARY News’ question over the congressmen’s letter during a media briefing in Washington on Monday, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller stated, “We will respond in due course to the members.”

The United States wants to see Pakistan maintain its democracy, Miller stated.

The release of the PTI founder’s wife and sisters was a result of a meeting between the US Deputy Assistant Secretary and a Pakistani government representative in Islamabad, which was further questioned during the press briefing.

“I won’t be addressing that,” Miller said when asked if the United States was involved in their release. Miller did, however, affirm that the conference included the defense of Pakistan’s basic liberties and rights.

Sixty-two members of the US Congress urged President Joe Biden on October 24 to support the release of Imran Khan, the former prime minister of Pakistan, and other political prisoners.

The congressmen, who included well-known Muslim members Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, said in their letter that the Biden administration should ask Pakistani authorities to guarantee the safety of PTI founder Imran Khan.

They also underlined that US policy should concentrate on Pakistan’s human rights situation and asked that US ambassadors attend the PTI leader’s incarceration.

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