Islamabad court withdraws KP CM’s arrest warrants

ISLAMABAD / PESHAWAR: A court in Islamabad withdrew the arrest warrants for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur on Thursday in a case related to the recovery of liquor and weapons, following the Peshawar High Court’s decision to grant him protective bail.
On Wednesday, judge Shaista Khan Kundi had issued the non-bailable arrest warrants for the KP chief minister as he failed to attend previous proceedings.
On Thursday, Raja Zahoorul Hassan, the counsel for Mr Gandapur, argued before the court that the additional district and sessions judge (ADSJ) hearing the appeal seeking suspension of the arrest warrants had observed that the trial court had ample power to review the decision.
He said his client had obtained protective bail from the PHC and given an undertaking to appear before the trial court in due course. He assured the judge that the KP chief minister will appear before the court on Sept 21.
The judge cancelled the arrest warrants and adjourned the hearing till the said date.
Protective bail
Earlier, a division bench of the Peshawar High Court comprising Justice Syed Arshad Ali and Justice Shahid Khan granted the CM protective / transit bail, and restrained law enforcement agencies from arresting him.
The bench pronounced that the duration of the protective bail would be mentioned in its detailed order sheet.

The bench directed Mr Gandapur to appear by Sept 21 before the relevant court in Islamabad in the case in which his arrest warrants had been issued.
Advocates Alam Khan Adenzai and Ali Zaman appeared along with Mr Gandapur before the bench and contended that the petitioner was falsely implicated in dozens of cases on political grounds.
They stated that so far the petitioner had appeared before several courts across the country, especially in Islamabad and Punjab, and was granted pre-arrest bails in around 100 cases.
Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2024