A Lahore High Court division bench on Monday dismissed the bail petition of Haris Steel Mills owner Sheikh Afzal, the co-accused of Hamesh Khan in the Rs 9 billion Bank of Punjab scam.
Former Federal Law Minister Babar Awan appeared before the court on behalf of Sh Afzal and contended that his client was languishing behind the bar for 19 months but the trial had not commenced till date despite the fact that the trail court had held at least 25 hearings. He said after the amendment in section 497 of CrPC through presidential ordinance, the concession of bail could be extended to an accused if his trial had not commenced for a period of one year. He said his client was being punished for nothing.
Bank of Punjab counsel Barrister Masooma opposed the bail application and argued that the BoP was the country’s biggest bank fraud and big fish were involved. She said law for concession of bail under section 497 CrPC was not applicable to NAB accused and they could not be released on bail on its pretext.
She said Sheikh Afzal was a desperate accused since he had hurled threats on the Punjab advocate general and weapons had been recovered from him inside the jail premises. Masooma’s arguments annoyed Babar Awan who claimed BoP was not the country’s biggest scandal. Without naming the accused, Masooma countered that Rs 76 billion had been taken out of BoP. Bench comprising Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry and Justice Mazhar Iqbal Sidhu after hearing arguments from both sides dismissed the bail bail application. In November 2009, NAB arrested Haris Steel mill owner Sheikh Afzal and his son Haris Afzal from Kuala Lumpur and brought them to Pakistan. Sheikh Afzal is accused of having drawn loans on fake identity cards.
Babar Awan: PPP leader senator Babar Awan has said courts have never given a decision against Takhet-e-Lahore and all stay orders are being issued in favour of the ‘relief brothers’. He was talking to media men at Lahore High Court premises after appearing before a court in connection with bail petition of Sheikh Afzal. He said on the issue of Sariaki province a resolution has been moved in Punjab Assembly and Punjab government should handle it in line with the constitution because politicizing the issue would aggravate the problems. He pointed out that there are two laws in the city, one for the Cantt and another for the rest of city. Awan held Punjab’s rulers responsible for the increasing problems of the citizens, claiming they were impressed by Mughal rulers. Answering to a question on Karachi situation, he said no incident of targeted killing had occurred in two days and hoped things would be better. Responding to another query about arrest of Benazir Bhutto’s killers, he simply said that the case was pending in the trial court
Bus-stand shifting: The Lahore High Court on Monday sought a report and para wise comments from Punjab secretary transport on a writ petition challenging shifting of Badami Bagh Bus Stand to two new locations near Thokar Niaz Beg and Shadara. A local transporter Muhammad Tariq filed the petition and contended that the shifting of the bus stand will cause a huge loss to transporters and also a great inconvenience to passengers. He said thousands of passengers from across the country used the Badami Bagh bus stand also known as Lorry Adda round the clock. He pointed out that government decided to establish a bus stand at Shahdara for passengers intend to go northern cities of the country including Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Peshawar etc. And for southern cities including Okara, Multan, Rahim Yar Khan etc, the passengers will have to use bus stand at Thokar Niaz Beg. Petitioner said this will cause an immense inconvenience to passengers coming to Lahore from other cities as both the proposed bus stands were far way from city railway station too. The government had not allocated land so far for the bus stands, neither in Shahdara nor in Thikar Niaz Beg, he added. Petitioner, therefore, prayed that the government be restrained from shifting the Lorry Adda from Badami Bagh to new proposed locations. Justice Kazim Raza Shamsi after hearing initial contention issued notice to secretary transport and directed him to file report and comments on the matter by Aug 12.
Cheque dishonouring: Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Monday observed that law pertaining to cheque dishonour(Section 489-F of PPC) is being misused and it has help in increasing corruption. CJP made these observations while granting bail to a person namely Ghulam Mustafa who was in jail for 8 months on the charges of issuing a cheque which was not enchased. Justice Tasadduq Hussain Jillani and Justice Mian Saqib Nisar were other judges on the bench. CJ said only three years maximum punishment could be handed down under section 489-F but surprisingly accused is behind the bars for 8 months and trial court had failed to conclude trial so far. The petitioner Mustafa argued that complainant of the case was using delaying tactics by not producing the witnesses in the court.
