Rawalpindi: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday ordered the immediate release of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who was arrested in light of the May 9 violent protests.
Former Foreign Minister Qureshi has been arrested several times since his first arrest.
While hearing the petition against his arrest, the Rawalpindi Bench of the Lahore High Court ordered that Qureshi not be arrested further under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance (MPO).
Justice Chaudhry Abdul Aziz conducted the hearing.
The court also declared the Rawalpindi Deputy Commissioner’s MPO orders illegal and directed the authorities to immediately release the PTI vice-chairman without asking him to post bail.
The government was represented by Assistant Attorney General Abid Aziz Rajouri while the PTI leader was represented by lawyer Taimur Malik and Qureshi’s daughter.
During the hearing, the court asked the law officer whether Qureshi made any speech or led any protest.
The court directed to produce any evidence against the former foreign minister, saying that a political leader cannot control his words in a political gathering.
On this, the officer asked for two days’ time to submit the evidence.
However, the court directed them to update the court within an hour after taking instructions from the government.
After which the court adjourned the hearing for one hour.
Meanwhile, Punjab Police submitted the report of cases against Qureshi.
According to the report, 9 cases have been registered against Qureshi across Punjab. Out of these four cases are registered in Lahore while five cases are registered in different police stations of Multan.
The report was submitted at the request of the PTI leader’s daughter.
It should be noted that several senior leaders of PTI were arrested after the protests in response to the arrest of PTI Chairman Imran Khan on May 9.
At least eight people were killed in clashes between PTI supporters and law enforcement agencies following his arrest on corruption charges.
Apart from Qureshi, Asad Umar, Shireen Mazari, Fawad Chaudhry and Yasmin Rashid were among the prominent names of PTI who were detained.
However, some leaders including Umar, Mazari and Chaudhry were released. Many of them have left the party in condemnation of the violent protests and parted ways with the former prime minister.
