ISLAMABAD - Former speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser Wednesday approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking details of cases against him.
The former speaker moved the court through his counsel Ayesha Khalid Advocate and cited Secretary Interior, Chief Commissioner Islamabad, Inspector General (IGs) of Islamabad and the four provinces, Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Director General (DG) Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) as respondents.
He adopted the stance in his petition that a number of politically motivated and unlawful FIRs have been lodged against the petitioner and 100s of such fabricated FIRs have been filed against other leaders and workers of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI), thousands have been picked up and illegally detained while the whereabouts of many are unknown, all of which amounts to grave violations of the petitioner’s rights under, inter alia, Articles 4)9, 10A, 15, 16, 17, 19, and 25 and consequently through the instant Petition, the petitioner sought the protection of this court from the most audacious assault on fundamental rights launched by any Executive of this country.
He added, “That the extraordinary nature of the attack on fundamental rights of one of the largest political parties of the country involving violations of their rights to life and liberty, fair trial, dignity and privacy of home, movement, assembly, association, speech, and equal treatment guaranteed under Article 9, 10A, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, and 25 of the Constitution means that the intervention of this Court is required in order to protect and enforce the said fundamental rights and the rule of law.” The counsel contended that the petitioner apprehended to arrest in relation to the FIRs which are not in his knowledge and he he also apprehended that without notice (abruptly) his freedom will be curtailed by the state and therefore the petitioner sought this court’s intervention in this respect.
He argued that the petitioner moved an application to DIG Operation, ICT Police for providing information regarding the fake, frivolous and unknown FIRs throughout the country but the same is reluctant to provide the information to the petitioner. Therefore, he prayed to the court to direct the respondents to submit a complete and comprehensive list setting out details and copies of cases/FIR/complaints registered against the petitioner. He also requested the court to disclose and submit details of any inquiries, investigations and references pending against the petitioner.