ISLAMABAD, June 17(ABC): The Islamabad High Court on Thursday sought a report from the National Assembly secretary on the May 21 arrest of senior PTI leader and former federal minister on human rights Shireen Mazari.
The directive came during the hearing of the petition filed by Shireen’s daughter Iman Mazari, against the arrest, as IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah termed the arrest as unlawful.
The former human rights minister, according to Geo News, was taken into custody in a case related to the encroachment of a piece of land in District Rajanpur.
“This court’s opinion about it [arrest] is that the action hadn’t been taken as per the legal process,” CJ Minallah remarked.
Later, the notification for the formation of the inquiry commission to probe Shireen’s arrest was presented before the court.
The notification issued by the Cabinet Division stated that the three-member commission will be headed by former law secretary Justice retd Shakoor Paracha. The other two members are former inspector-general Noman Khan and former federal secretary Dr Saifullah Chattah.
As per the Terms of Reference (TORs) mentioned in the notification, the commission will investigate Shireen’s arrest and conduct a transparent review of the allegations of misuse of authority in the arrest.
It further stated that the commission will send the recommendations to the federal cabinet by July 4, while the Islamabad administration will provide secretariat support to the commission.
At the outset of the hearing today, Shireen and Imaan appeared before the court with their lawyer, Ali Bukhari. Bukhari raised an objection that the inquiry commission issued a notification on June 4.
He complained that no progress has been made in regard to the commission nor my client has been summoned for investigations.
He also asked the court to inquire from the deputy attorney general whether his client’s application to include the investigation of criminal proceedings against her in the ToRs had been accepted.